The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-04-20

rebuilding of Galveston and the hero
ism of Texas people in three wars,
that enjoyed very much chance to
travel over the Lone Star state and
visit its places of beauty and interest.
They say that Texas surpasses all the
other states as a place of contrasts,
where the best and the worst flourish
side by side. I found that the reports
had not been exaggerated in the least.
We passed through the most desolate
and forbidding stretches of country i
nave ever seen and just beyond we
always entered a beautiful garden
land of flowers and running water and
vegetables that grow with tropic pro-
fusion.
1--WE visited first at Houston, and
drove all over this busy and fiourishins
city. I should say that Houston was
enjoying prosperity. The streets Of
| this city are congested with traffic and
new buildings are going UP on every
hand. We made side trips from Hous-
ton to Angleton, Anchor, Arvin and
several smaller places. These little
towns are built UP solely by railroads
and depend upon them absolutely for
their existence and growth. It is a
long ways between towns, travelling by
rail through Texas.
"Of course I was anxious to see CAL
weston, the city built on an island in
the gulf and wiped out by an. ocean
storm. We admire the Galveston peo>
home, for they buried their dead, re-
built their shattered buildings and
bravely prepared to fight the sea for
possession Of this island. They live
all the year round within the possible.
if not probable, danger of annihila-
ton. visited the sea wall. 1t is very
grand and seems to be solid as the
hills and strong as the forces OF ma
ture. But still. when one watches a
wide, black wave rush in from the gulf
and jtcnlf n a 70 of
barrier built by man, one can not help
but feel alarmed. The day was calm,
they said. when I visited the wall. I
should be afraid to live in Galveston
during a storm at sea.
There is only one way to enter
Galveston, and that is by way OF q
railroad bridge through the channel
that separates the city from the main
| land. This bridge is of steel trestle
work and passes through the sea for
the distance of three miles. The
bridge is congested with railroad traffic
all the time. Galveston is still at work
deepening her wonderful harbor which
is the city's mafnstay in the struggle
for commerce. Ships from all over
the world are anchored there and the
wharf is the busiest place ever saw.
Then they have built up the greater
part of the city during the eight years
since the big storm That Is to say,
they have raised that part of the island
where they city is located about eight
feet higher above the level of the sea.
They accomplished this great work by
simply hauling dirt AMI rocks into the
city and building it up on a gigantic
scale, just as Topeka man would
raise lot he owned by throwing dirt
into a depression on its surface
While Miss Ferguson had fine
time in Texas and saw many new
things, yet she was not impressed with
the enterprise of the citizens of that
state, taken as a whole. They are not
as energetic as Kansas people, she
said. In fact. she used the word
| '1azy'' as applied to many of the in
| land farmers who have the richest OF
soil and the blessing of the gulf breeze
to help them with their crops. This
! breeze from the gulf is the most pleas
| ing feature of the state and its greatest
/ asset. In hot weather its GOODNESS
1 tempers the heat of the sun, and II
saves the fruit and crops from freez-
Il ing by taking the edge off the frosty
Fl nights All over the highlands OF
| Texas this gulf breeze makes the eli
II mate glorious the year round. Blu
y there are many low and unhealthy and