Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-05-01

General Sam Houston.
The City of Houston was n of
the first products of the Republic of
Texas. Founded by The Allen family
and General Sam Houston after the
defeat of the Mexicans at San Jacinto.
April 81, 1896, and named In honor of
the illustrious Texan who won Texas
independence, the new town was
founded to be the chief city IN the new
Republic. and today it maintains the
same position as the chief city of the
State of Texas, with a population of
100, 900 or more persons.
When Mexico was forced to relin-
quish claims to Texas in 1886, the vic
torious Texans threw off the mantle of
warfare to face a much more stupen-
dous task, that of the governing of a
great ~undeveloped empire, twice the
size of Japan, and 1926 miles from
north to south and 740 miles from east
to west.
Establishment of the chief city, or
capital, was the first task and it was
decided to place 1t at a point easy of
access by water, which vas then the
chief method of transportation, with
the exception of overland, yet far
enough inland from the coast to be
safe from tropical aud gulf storms.
That point was determined at the
headwaters of Buffalo Bayou, fifty
miles inland. 1t was proposed to
found the town on land owned by the
Harris family, but a disagreement
with the Allen family on land matters
forced the Aliens to desert the Harris
burg town project and come three
miles further up the bayou, where
they founded Houston. Today the
town of Harrisburg is but little larger,
if any larger, than when founded, and
is now a suburb of the City of Hous-
ton.
So Houston was founded. The wis.,
dom of the forefathers in laying out
the city on a navigable stream has
proved the greatest factor In the up
building of Houston. Long since the
name of Buffalo Bayou has given way
to the more distinctive name of
ton Ship Channel, " and the old bayou,
still an arm of the sea, has been deep
ened to a minimum depth of % feet
aud a minimum bottom width of 100
feet, so the ships of the ocean might
enter the handbook port of Houston
over its placid waters.
The Ship Channel is Houston's
greatest commercial asset. 1t has
given Houston the water rate, while
traffic over its waters amount to over
500, 900, 900 annually. Houston is a
port of entry and a customs house is
maintained. The improvement of the
Channel to a depth of rs feet has just
been made under an appropriation of
So, SOC, 900, the work being directed by
United States engineers. The City of
Houston, by agreement with the Gov
ernment, forever guarantees to main
tain free wharf facilities, SO no COM
merce over the wharves at Houston
will be subject to tax.
Houston is the railroad centre of the
Southwest, II railroads entering the
city and making their terminus. Over
100 passenger trains operate in and out
of Houston daily. Houston is the
largest railroad center and deep water
port combined in the South. Houston
Is general headquarters for the Sunset
Central lines (Southern Pacific lines
in Texas and Louisiana) the Inter-
national and Great Northern Railway,
the Texas Frisco lines and the Trinity
and Brazos Valley Railroad.
The only general office buildings of
the southern Pacific lines is at Hous-
ton, the nine-story, half-million dollar
general office building of the Sunset
Central lines. A modern half-million
dollar hospital for exclusive railroad
use is maintained in Houston by the
Southern Pacific
The shops of the Sunsets Central
lines and of the Houston and Texas
Central, are la Houston. Nearly $500
men are employed in the great shops
of the Texas and New Orleans Rail-
roads, and over 500 men are in the
shops of the Houston and Texas Cen
trail.
Houston is the financial center of
the Southwest, with more banking
capital, greater clearings aud greater
deposits than any city in Texas. De-
posits subject to check average S45,-
000, 900, while bank clearings are the
second largest in the South. Several
costly aud modern buildings house
Houston's financial institutions.
Houston is the largest inland port
cotton market in the world, handling
nearly 1900, 900 bales annually, or the
bulk of the crop of Texas and Okla
homa. Houston has greater concen-
tration facilities than any city in Tex
as, with a COMPRISING capacity of
5000, 900 bales per year. The greatest
item of commerce over the Houston
Ship Channel is cotton, and the Chan
mel alone saves over 6 5000, 900 annual
~ to the cotton producers of Texas, as
it reduces for a half of so miles the
railroad rate of q cents per hundred to
six cents.
Houston is the oil center of Texas,
% oil corporations with a combined
capital of $40, 000, OOo being domiciled
in Houston. One corporation, The
Texas Company, is capitalized at $780,
100000.
Houston is the lumber center of the
Southwest, SO corporations with q
combined capital of SAC, 900 900 being
homed in Houston. Annual business
amounts to $87, 000, 900. The cut is
confined almost entirely to a long leaf
yellow pine, great forests of which are
located within a few miles of Houston.
Houston is the industrial and manu-