Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-05-15

IuIe Oh the party. 1uiS WAS thhSu oJ
the Sunset Film Company of Houston,
affiliated with the Mutual Film Com
pany and will be SEMI on the regular
circuits over the United States in con-
nection with the views of the battle
ships taken on the trip about the bay.
Upon arrival at Galveston a commit
tee OF boosters, headed by John F.Lub-
ben, secretary-treasurer of The News
Company, and q. H. McMaster, presi-
dent of the Tribune Company, ably
assisted by Secretary Frost Of the Gal
weston Commercial Association, con-
Quoted the party to four large pleasure
yachts engaged for the occasion, and
we were off for a ten-mile trip down
the bay, with a luncheon served en-
route. The docks along the two-and-a-
half-mile waterfront make a surprising
indication of the traffic on seagoing
vessels from the port of Galeston, and
the great vessels at anchor in the roads
had especial interest for the members,
who were nearly all from the interior.
Several of the large vessels were just
10 from Mexico, and there were about
1900 refugees, mostly of them Amerl-
eau citizens, aboard and detained by
the six days quarantine required to
guard against yellow fever. First Of
all was Admiral Mayo's flagship, Con-
necticut, where the sailors aud marines,
together with half q thousand refugees,
lined the rails for the moving pictures.
Civilians are not allowed aboard a
battleship, and their presence indicates
an extreme necessity. Another big
boat was the battleship tender Dixie,
and another the collier Cyclops. The
Ward line Esperanto and the oil tank
steamer Trinidadian attracted atten-
ton. But perhaps the most interest
ing were the four lowlying torpedo
boat destroyers which had just come
Into the harbor this morning. The
trip took us through Galveston har-
Dor, through Bolivar Roads aud about
two miles out between the ~jetties.
Forts Travis and San Jacinto, which
guard the entrance to the harbor, were
seen to the east, and the federal and
Texas quarantine stations and the
United States immigration station
were passed.
A pleasant ride on the street railway
line, accomplishing all the most interest
ing and beautiful parts of the city,
show 1t to be most attractive in the
spring garb. The parked boulevards
lined with china berries, now loaded
with blossoms and palms, magnolia,
and browning all, the royal palms,
make the city unique and delightful.
It is hard to realize that all have grown
since the great storm in 1900.
Fort Crockett is nearly deserted now,
but q run was taken thr0ugh the
grounds. The Fourth, Nineteenth and
Twenty-eighth Infantry, the Sixth Cav
airy, the Fourth Field Artillery, a
company of engineers, Captain U. s.
Grant commanding, and Company d.
Signal Corps, left for Vera Cruz Friday
and others are getting ready to stalt.
Galveston is a city that has been the
center OF much of the activities in the
Disappointing epochs of the South
west. Named "Galveston" after Count
Bernardo de Galvez, Spanish viceroy
In Mexico, afterward the headquarters
OF the famous Barbarian pirate Jean
Lafitte before he was crushed by the
| United States government, the city &C.
tually started and grew from a semi
military station when in 1885 Colonel
Michael b. Menard purchased of the
republic OF Texss"one league and labor
Of landn on the east end Of Galveston
Island for $4,000.
The city on that $4,000 site is now
the greatest cotton port in the world
and second greatest port in the United
States in volume of annual exports
and imports. Its inhabitants do the
greatest export business per capita in
the world, amounting to a value of
So, 800 yearly for each man, woman and
child of the 0 1000 population. Calves
toms port record for the fiscal year of
1929 was $3.50, 27s, 496 in value of ex-
ports and imports, next In value to
New York and $50, 500, JIG greater than
its nearest port rival, New Orleans.
Gail Borden Jr. built the first custom
house at Galveston in 1887. The
first wharf was built in 1883 by Colonel
Amosa Taylor. The ports business
grew steadily up to the civil war, when
the only business was done by the
blockade runners that slipped through
the lines of the blockading federal gum
boats. The battle of Galveston, won
by the confederates, was fought here
Ian /. 1863.