Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-11
NAMED BY LA SALE
Attractive Corpus Christi on
the Gulf Coast.
where TAYLOR CAMPED
Army of Occupation Landed There
in 1845.
RY WILLIAM z CIrRTIS

|
CORPUS CHRISTI. Tex. April 5, 1911.
President Taft came down here in Oc-
tober, 1909. and stopped for several days
to rest from his arduous journey across
the continent at La Quinta ranch, ten
miles over the bay from Corpus Christi,
which belongs to his brother Charles.
The railway station for La Quinta is
called Sinton in honor of the late David
Sinton of Cincinnati, father of Mrs.
Charles Taft The President came over
to Corpus Christi to make a speech at
the convention of the Interstate Water
ways League, and inaugurated the new
golf links by driving the first ball from
In front Of the coy and artistic little
clubhouse The officers have the driver
and the ball hung up in a glass case over
the mantel. and beside it is photograph
of the President of the United States in
his shirt sleeves poised to strike the gutta
percha sphere.
! Corpus Christi is a winter resort, and
a summer resort also, for that matter.
Northern people como here in the WIN
ter, and southern people in the summer
to catch the ga breezes and rest and
loaf and fish and do other things that
tired people enjoy and a suitable mod
ern hotel Is now being built on the beach
adjoining the golf links The material
is reinforced concrete trimmed with stone
and veneered with brick. The contract
| ors have promised it for the opening of
next winters season, but they will have
| to hustle.
The hotel will be surrounded by cot
tages for rent to wealthy people who pre-
fer to be out of the wiirl, but will take
their meals at the hotel. Adjoining the
grounds the company has laid out large
villa lots for private residences. and has
already sold seventy-f1ve of them, upon
which the buyers are preparing to build.
On the northern side of the grounds is
a large Enclosure, filled with cottages,
boarding houses and other buildings,
which belongs to the Epworth League of
Texas, and is occupied all summer by
| members Of that organization. Sometimes
as many as 1900 people are there at one
| time, living in cottages and in tents on
the beach. They come and go all sum-
| mer, the several branches of the league
in the cities and towns Of Texas taking
their turns hey have a Chautauqua pro-
gram Of education and entertainment.
Gen. Taylor's Camp.
The beach is two miles long, wide
strip of hard, white sand; the golf links
stretch back from the shore with a good
course Of eighteen holes. The site OF the
hotel was occupied as a military camp
in 1916 by Gen. Zachary Taylor, who
landed here with detachment of 900
men from New Orleans on his way to
Mexico, and threw UP entertainments
| which may still be traced. 1t was an
army of occupation. The Mexicans
Samnes , tne territory s'e ~ as far as the
sisted that the boundary Of Texas was
| the Rio Grande, and argued for three
years with bullet and bayonet until they
| ment of that fact.
Corpus Christi was the headquarters
| OF the army of occupation for several
months. and the soldiers enjoyed their
| stay very much, hunting, fishing, bathing.
entertaining and being entertained at the
ranches in the neighborhood. Jefferson
Davis was here as colonel of the Mis-
sissippi Rifles. Ulysses 8. Grant was
lieutenant of regulars. and Robert e.
Lee joined the force when it reached
Brownsville. Numerous traditions Of
Taylor, Grant and Davis are related by
the oracles Of the town, and the oldest
inhabitant tells a story of his own ex-
perience with "Old Rough and Ready
as Gen. Taylor was affectionately called
by his men. He was not carpet knight,
like some of his officers. and it was often
difficult to distinguish between the gen.
| eral in command and the privates of the
ranks.
twelve years old at the time and was
crazy to see general; he had studied
about them in his school history, he had
read about them in his story books, and
his mother had told him tales of Sam
Houston and other great warriors which
| excited his imagination and a desire to
see the real thing with his own eyes, So
one day he ran away from home and
visited the camp. But he couldn't find
general. Going home disappointed and
looking man upon the road in q modest
uniform, who accosted him and entered
into conversation. The boy told him
frankly Of the object of his visit to camp
and his disappointment in not being able
to see general. Whereupon "Old Rough
and Ready''-for it was he-took him by
the hand and walked on with him to his
home. promising to let him see a general
as soon as they got there.
| Another Hotel Planned.
AS it never rains, but pours. another
hotel is to be built at once to accommo-
date the tourist travel that is expected
here in future winters, now that the Gulf
Coast railroad is open to the Mexican
border A company Of local capitalists
has been organized to erect a $25OOOO
modern, fireproof house of reinforced con-
crete after the mission design. The bank
ers and merchants Of the town have SUBJ
scribed $1S5,O0O in cash and will issue
$3.50 in bonds to pay for the building
and furniture: the prelimining sketches
have been accepted; the detailed plans
are being made. and the contractors will
get to work at once. Corpus Christi has
| had everything but hotels to crafty tour
lists and now that want will be doubly
supplied. The railway company has
promised to help things along by adver
Using the attractions Of the place as a
| winter resort, by giving low rates and
making the journey as comfortable as
possible. B. +. Yoakum, who controls the
Frisco system and the Gulf Coast road, Is
very much interested in all these enter
prises. He is Texan by birth and af
| fections, and thinks this is the greatest
| country on earth.
A Naval Academy.
| In 1890 somebody built a hotel at the
odd end of the town, where nobody