The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-16
GALVESTON HAD WARNING.
MANY OTHER ISLANDS IN THs GULF
HAD ~SUKKERED YER FAIk.
twenty Thousand Lives Loot and sIoo'-
600. 900 of Property Destroyed In the sam.
WAy-Hasy Cities and villages wiped ous
by Flood In the Last Two Cestsrtss.

twenty Thou,and Lives Lost and $780,
900, 900 NJ Property Destroyed In the same
WAy-aary Ciies and Villages wiped Out
b. Flood In the Last I've Cestsnss'
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1.-THE destruction OF
Galveston BY the storm Of Sept. 8 an 0 supplies
further evidence that the low-lyinR sand Islands
frinRirR the shores Of Mississippi, Louisiana
and Texas, for q distance OF nearly one thou
tsnd miles. were never Intend d Tor human
habitation. TIE evidence has been secured at a
frgbtful sacr Ace OF life end property. for II IL
animated hat more than 1000 lives have been
lost and nearly slOo. oCo.O o II property has been
Sestroyed on tho . island, by hurricanes.
fsiand after Island has been the scene OF
Destruction, is reputation either wiped
out or the island itself washed away.
Galveston was frequently threatene I before.
and warned OF the fate. but the p -ople believed
that their breakv q or and substantial buildings
would be able TO defy the storm. The Calves
ton horror Is the twelfth OF its kind in the sand
islal d. OF the Gulf. II Ia the worst In loas OF
life and properly, because a city ! ad been built
on Calves on Isllnd: but, the other disasters
were equally bud, or at least proper onately
bad, and In most cases the percentage Of saved
was even smaller than at Galveston
The record ~ the loss OF life goes back to a
time before the white man landed on these
shores. When Bienville and Ibervill'. two CEN
turtles ago. occupied this country they found
upon tn island where they landed opposite
where Mobile now stands the DO es OF hundreds
OF the aborginrs. The French thought that
the unburled bodies indicated a massacre. and
20 called The Island Massacre Island; II IL PAU
rhine Island to-day. ltwasa massacre. no by
human hands but by some IN ghty storm, which
overwhelmsd the Il dian population and wiped
~ out Of existence. 1t left a memory tehind
which the natives never forgot. and the Cur
Islands werr b. them a haunted place never 10
no visited, In spite OF the fact that they teemed
With game. when the French settled there
they found the Islands wholly unin-
habited, the Indians hid learned what
the white man has lear ed since. how unsafe
they are for human settlement Nor we're the
French long In learning this lesson. Tor
within two years Of their settlement on the
Gulf coast. In the very beginning or the eigh-
tsenth century. their feet went dow In a
hurricane In tie magnificent harbor OF Isle dAs
vsrsseau1, now transla ed into ship Island.
Ship Island Il ain ST Id ntical In most mar
riculars with Galve ton Ill nd, and It has been
the aim OF the PEOPLE q Missis ippi TO bu,ld n
great port there, Ike the Texas city. which
would handle 'h' commerce and free them from
the control Of New Criean,. The project hasbeen
popular Tor half a century, and a great deal oil
money has been expended on II There l. a
splendid harbor on Saip Island, and by
connecting II with tho mtinllnd. a. Cal
weston was connected In Texas. a deem
water port could be obtained. A rail-
road has been built from the mainland
into the interior Of MissIs sippi, and
all that IL now needed Is to connect
the Island with the shore by means OF
4 pier or br de. This has BEEN repeatedly
proposed. but never done. mainly for financial
reasons. The DESTRUCTION ofGai weston will have
a tendency to delay If not TO Ill the project,
rarticu laTly As the Galveston storm washed
away a portion OF Ship Island
Stretching from Mobile to the Rio Grande Is a
long fringe Of island diIering very little from
enc another. Ind ed, any OF them might pass
Tor Galveston Island. so alike are they. the only
difference being that some Of the eastern ones
have trees. whereas west OF the Atchafala q
they are generally bare and opel. and there
fore more dangerous being exposed to the
waves and wind They range from ten TO
twenty miles long and from one TO two miles
vide. They are compo-ed almost exclusively
Of sand underlaid by clay or qulcksands.
covered In part with a coarse. scraggy
sea grass. They begin at Dauphi0e Is
land aud stretch westward as follows;
Petit Bots. Horn, Dear. Ship, Cat, the Chan
d~eleurs, Breton. Bird. Grand. Timball r. Call
lon, Last Island toriginally one island. but cut
into two by tho great storm o. $50. Marsh.
Galveston, Ma'agorda, st. Joseph, Mustang
and sadie. Cheniere, Caminads and Indianola
are in reality isiands. although Technically not
known as such. beng separated rom the main
land by swamps always under water.
Al one time or another every one OF these
Islands has been 3 ruck by a hurricane and
depopulated and changed or modified IN shape.
They will change their appearance entirely in "A
night. As n consequerc' most OF them are
without stable popu.a ion to-day. "a In tho
Indian days when, Notwithstanding the
game on them. 4 few charcoal burners and
cattle men I've on Cat Island. The others are
mainly fr quented by fishermen, for tn y are
fine fishing :. atoms. Of tn entire lot, perhaps
Chsnde eur Is a d, as 1t Is called. is the wo ~.
II may have been an island once, II Is an archi-
pelago to-day. Ftcing southeast and acting az
4 breakwater TO the country around New
Orleans II catches all the storms and has been
the scene o; moro wrecks han perhaps any other
place In the country. Originally forty or ATTY
miles long. the storms and the ocean have out il
up into a score o. Islands, and It's form changes
with every hurricane. 1t has completely
changed It's character within historical times.
and is apparently being washed away and likely
10 become in time a mere reef. Tho water
now pourI over 1t with every storm and the
sand disappears 90 petely from view, buried
under the Gulf. Originally covered with wax
myrtles, from which the Creoles mad their
candles. hence its name tChandeleur). II now
boosts OF nothing but marsh grass a d e single
palm tree which by some strange freak OF
chance has survived all the hurricanes.
Some years ago the United states Govern
ment. on the persistent demands OF the people
Of Louisiana and Mississippi. established It's
Gulf qusrantin station on Chandelier Island. in
what was suppo I'd 10 be a very safe spot. In
the storm OF 1850, which may be called the
Sabine PaNs -torm, since II was the Sabine Pass
country that was overwhelmed that year. the
quarantine oficer. had lust time 10 get way
from the station. When the physicians went
back to look for their station they could not
ind a trace OF It. The very site had disap-
reared. and q few battered piece. Of wood
picked up on the coast and supposed to BE- the
wreckag' Of the quarantine station we're the
only remnants ever found, The station was
never rebuilt. but moved to Ship Is and. Chan
deleu- Island wholly uniphabited to-day. and
r. sole occupants. except birds. are a species OF
Wild boars. which seem 10 have some way OF
defying the elements. The other Islands, Enrol,
BIRD. &c. stretching 10 the mouth OF the Missis-