Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-29
What viii Fort Worth Doe

The problem of a deep water barber on
the Texan coast seems to have reached Z
stage Of fair assurance of successful solu-
ton, if the reports from VelaSco are cor
rect. While Galveston has been organizing
mammoth steamship lines and printing
wonderful maps for future photographic
students, the Velasco people have been
tickling the current of the big Brazos until
it has twisted a more desirable channel out
to the gulf. The results of the differently
applied labors may be summed up as fol-
lows: At Galveston, Sandbar that is the
result of gulf currents, and that cannot be
done away with until the trend of the gulf
currents are permanently changed. 1t may
be rendered less obnoxious by the applica-
ton of great labor, and necessarily great
expense, but SO long as the gulf stream
continues to flow as it has done since man
first knew it, sweeping along the Texan
coast, so long will it continue TO pile up the
sand on the Galveston bar. The treatment
of man may be "heroic," bnt in this case it
can only be palliative. AT Velasco, ia
feet of water over bar that but short
time ago carried but 4.6 feet, and an assur-
ance which (based on the results of similar
work at the mouth of the Mississippi river)
may be accepted as positive, that every day
that the Brazos river flows viii witness
deepening of the channel. The result is not
to be wondered at. 1t is not in any way
surprising. The deductions of science will
not be ignored. The study of hydraulics
teaches that the power of water in motion
is virtually irresistible. The bore of the
Brazos river is more impetuous than the
sluggish flow of the gulf current, and
therefore there is no doubt that, with intel
igent direction given to the bore, it will
continue its work of maintaining deep
channel. Unfortunately for Galveston, she
has no river whose current could be utilized
to aid her ambition.
The news from Velasco is most welcome
to Texas. 1t is most welcome news to the
vast region lying north and west of Fort
Worth. 1t is most welcome to Fort Worth.
Not in the sense that deep water has been
obtained at VelaSco in preference
to its presence at any other
Texan port, but because it is deep
water, and therefore an attainment preg
nant with promise of practical benefit to US
in the present. The flour supply of the
Latin-American states must naturally be
drawn from Texas. In the past it has been
had from far Northern markets This was
due to two causes. l. Texas had not en-
gagged in the cultivation of wheat. .. The
channels of cheap transportation were by
way of the Atlantic coast. The first condi-
Texas will have 1000, 900 bushels of wheat
to spare. Next year-the deluge. Every
requirement of soil and climate for the sue
cesSful cultivation of this cereal is found in
the vast empire of the Panhandle. From
Fort Worth to Texline, on the New Mexico
border, a distance of 40 miles. is an I'M
broken expanse of the finest wheat lands In
the Western hemisphere. With but few
settlements along the line of the railroad
passing through this region, over 5000, 900
bushels Of wheat were produced this year.
The immigrants, the old farmers from the
Middle and Western states. are to-day pour
ing in upon the fertile acres of this land of
promise. Let US figure the probable crop
of 1892 in the Panhandle. Ten miles on
CANT estimate of the cultivated area. That
it will be in wheat, goes without question.
Then strip twenty miles in
width and 40 miles in length contains
$500 square miles, equivalent TO SECS, 900
acres. The yield of wheat is from twenty !
to forty bushels per acre. Assuming the |
lowest yield, and we have IL, 64O, 900 BUSH |
els as the possibilities of 1892. Deep water |
on the Texas coast means to the Panhandle |
a saving of millions of dollars in the matter |
Of transportation; it means millions of dol |
lars to the credit Of Fort Worth's commerce |
in the handling of the enormous traffic. A |
railroad to Valascol Yes, not one. but |
many. Railroad men are frequently found |
with their eyelids partly shut, but such a |
does not indicate sleep. On the |
it is the method, common to that |
class, of taking keener glance. There
will be no lack of transportation. The
Katy" the Santa Fe, the International |
md two or three other roads are already at |
work. If Fort Worth is wise, she will Sc
cure the mighty stream Of trade that soon
will flow between the great West and the
gulf. Every means that can be employed |
@ more firmly fix the bond of mutual inter-
course between her and the Panhandle
should be seized, and at once. Others are
lot sleeping. The opportunity for the es-
Adjustment OF commerce unparalleled is
waiting at her door. VIII she give it well
,ome2 F. NJ. CLARKE