Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-01-25
CORPUS CHRISTI TO
 BUILD GREAT SEA WALL AS SAFEGUARD
1t Shall Not Happen Again. is City's Motto
 Now

contract Will be let by aprl 10 for the beginning of work on a three mile protective seawall around the bay section of Corpus Christi to prevent recurrence of q loss of life and property damage similar to that of last September. The general plan of the seawall has been in dorsed by the city council, and en- gineers are working on specifica- tions for the letting of the con tract.
 The tropical hurricane that en. tered the Gulf of Mexico early last September hultled across the waters and struck the city of Corpus Chris ii with it's full force, taking ter rible toll of hundreds of lives and doing many millions of dollars of property damage. Corpus Christi has said to the world: Ut shall not happen again"
 Before the storm the state of Texas had remitted ad valorem taxes to the city and to Neuces county for the purpose of building sea wall here. It was planned then to construct a low wall in front of the business district, which would pro- vide g safe harbor for pleasure craft and beautify the water front. The storm of September IA has caused complete alteration of plan.
 Wall to Encircle Beach Section.
 The new plan calls for wall high enough to afford adequate pro- lection for the future and long enough to encircle practically all of the beach section of the city.
 By far the larger part of Corpus Christi, geographically, lies on d bluff AZ feet high, which is said to be the highest land on the Atlantic coast south of Cape May, N. J. On the narrow strip of beach between the foot of the bluff and the shores of Corpus Christi and Neuces Bay is built the business district, and it is this part of the city for which protection is sought
 The wall proper will be built of mass concrete with curved face, similar to the seawall at Galveston. This will rest on foundation of piling, protected from seepage by ' facing of sheet piling. At the toe of the seawall there will be pro lection of riprap, and in front of this a bathing beach will be built. The wall will be 12 feet above sea level ,or two feet above the highest water mark known, and will be built 600 feet out from the present shore line.
 Between the wall and the present shore line there will be fill of sol i'd earth, the first 200 feet back Al r1o 1,,o 11vy upward, reaching crest of IA feet above sea level. The first fifty feet of this will be paved, and the re- mainder, as we'll as the land from the crest of the hill to the present shore street, will be converted into . city park.
 Wall to Start at Bluff.
 The wall, which will start from tho bluff at point below the whole sale district, will curve out into Corpus Christi bay, extending nortk through the water until it curves back and crosses the narrow strip of land separating Corpus Christi and Neuces bay. where it will re- join the bluff fronting on Neuces bay ,thus enclosing practically the entire beach section of the city proper. The entire wall will be 16,OOO feet long and will cost ap- proximately $3,000,000.
 A bill his now pending in Con- gress providing for a loan to the city by the Fereal Reserve Board for the building of the wall, but Corpus Christi has refused to await congre ssional action, and will begin the construction of the seawall at once with the money on hand from the remission of taxes by the state. About $6OO,000 is available from this source. The city will ask that the time for remitting taxes be ex- tended from 15 to 50 years, so that sufficient funds may be forthcoming for the completion of the wall.
 Construction to Begin in Spring
 With the money now on hand, the city will begin the building of sec ton of the wall which will afford protection to the most valuable part of the business district. The first section, to be built, actual construc- tion of which will be under way this spring, will start at a point near the lower end of the wholesale district and extend to a point near the upper end of the retail district. Temporary bulkheads of piling and stone will be run back from the wall to the shore line at each end, and esrthen barriers built across the three blocks of the city to prevent water from backing in. The street crossings will be left open, but sand baxs will be kept constantly on hand to close them in the event or > Ax,MrsA0Mn YnlnQ.