Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-10-01
A GREAT UNDERTAKING.
THE HISTORY OF TIE WORK AT
THE BRAZOS' MOUTH.
Civil Engineers Versus Government En-
Sineers-The Work Done-Beautiful,
Healthful, Pleasant yeIasco.
YELAsCo, TEX, Sept. %, 1891.

EI-ASCO, IEN-, sept. z, 1881.
Editor Gazette
Every reader remembers more or less of
the great work done by Capt EadS al the
| mouth of the Mississippi river. 1t WAS
unique in every important feature. 1t was
done by private capital. If it proved 4 sue
cess, the government was TO buy it; i il
proved a failure, the undertakerS would
lose the millions of dollars which must be
spent. Capt. Eads, 4 civil engineer, single
handed, said; If complete the work on
this plan il will be L success The gov
eminent engineers said: III Capt. Eads
carries out his plan it Will be Il failure"
Capt. Eads called il the practical solving of
difficult, though perfectly feasible, under
taking. The government engineers said it
was simply an experiment. which, Sc!cn-
tifcally considered, exhibited no possible
promise of success.
The work was done. Four is no more
certainly the result of adding Two and two
together than was deep water the result of
Capt. Eads' work. The deepening of one
of the mouths of the father of waters is
now pointed TO with pride by every Ameri-
can, and is known by all the world rs one
of the greatest accomplishments of modern
times.
The whole territory of the trans-Missis-
sippi has been crying for deep water on the
Texas coast for years. Nineteen years ago
congress InadG the first appropriation for
weston bay. Since then - go, 600 has been
appropriated and spent under the direction
of the governments engineers. They had
twelve feet of water when they com
menced the work, and now the engineers in
charge report that they have thirteen feet
and three inches. One foot and three inches
of water on Galveston bar has cost nine
teen years of work and S22i0,000 of the
peoples money.
During the last twelve months 81 100000
more has been appropriated, which is now
being spent rs the other appropriations
We're spent. The most eminent civil engi-
neers state that deep water at Galveston,
by the proposed plan. is impossible. The
last congress was asked to appropriate So
POO, 900 to be used at Galveston, but the APP
preparation was not made
The BraZoS river is the only river empty
ing INTO the Gulf of Mexico wnst of the
Mississippi which pl1ngeS boldly into the
gulf without bay or delta
The Jesuit priests who settled the terri
tory now known as Texas, called the river
BraZO de DioS-the Arm of God. The COM
mercial hope of this great country they
then believed depended on the Brazos river.
Recent events prove that now and fore er
the BraZoS river will be the Arm of God"
on which must depend for commercial pros
perity the whole territory between the
Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains.
For years congress has been spending
money at FclaSco trying to get deep water.
Two years ago, the government engineers
officially reported that ut the mouth OF the
BraSoS 1t was impracticable, and advised
that no more appropriations be made for
that place. There was then four and half
feet of water o. the bar.
The BrazOs river channel and dock COM
pauy, composed of Texas, Kansas and HI
inois capitalists, employed Mr. f. L. Cor
thcil OF Chicago, widely known by hi con-
fhsaN 1I,,,, -l,N
Mississippi, to examine the mouth of the
BraZOs river, and if he found it feasible TO
report plan by which it could be made Il
deep water port. He reported it WAS emf
nently practicable; and upon the plan pro-
posed by him. with Mr.. Wis er directing
engineer, the work was commenced. Two
years have passed. and sl.50O.OO0 of the
company's money has been spent. To-day
there is water seventeen and a half feet
deep in the ShallOwest place on the bar.
Two years. and one and half million of
private money, by direction of civil en-
gineers, have deepened the water at Nelasco
thirteen feet. The scour of the river is
adding to this depth all the time, and with
in a few months the jettIos will be entirely
completed and twenty feet, the full depth
contemplated will grace the harDor of We
lasco, Tex, and for all time attract the
commerce of the world.
Having succeeded in this the Brazos
IAlHCI Iuiiilicl anu utCh pdIiS I'D = GULF
menced another great undertaking. They
are building a city. Velasco was laid out
on the high bank of the BrazOs river, three
miles from the ietties, on July l, 1891. AL
ready it is port of entry, and has cleared
numbers of larger ships than ever entered
the port of Galveston. The secretary of the
treasury of the United States on July Z,
1891, wrote the collector of customs at Gal
weston as follows: Owing to the insult
ficiency of water on your bar, vessels of
certain draught, although foreign, may go
to VelaSco to uuload.'
The company are constructing wharves, a
splendid hotel. grading streets and boule-
wards. and building railroad to connec-
ton with all the great railroad systems of
the state. They have never offered to sell 4
lot or an acre Of land till they got deep wa
ter; but since the 18th day OF July sales of
lots have run from So, 900 to S15O.O0O a
week. In November. il the Improvements
under construction can be completed, they
will have an auction sale, and every one is
invited TO came to Nelasco and buy, and
make money and a home. 1t is beautiful,
healthful and pleasant, and, not least of ali,
it is place where you can be certain of get
ting the pecuniary benefits of the rapid
growth of a great city. You must expect,
however, only vigorous development with
out booming. o. W. CRAWFORD.