Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1925-01-09
IN OUR
VALLEY
HAT man w. T. Eldridge. up at

= Sugar Land, must be wonder
He slipped into the Valley quietly.
very quietly. Without fuss, without
bluster-and my gracious, the things
he has been doing.
For years the Lower Rio Grande Val
ley has been in search of Flagler-a
man of the type that built the Florida
East Coast railroad and bridged the keys
to Key West with timbers and steel
rails.
will W. T. Eldridge prove to be the
Flagler of the Lower Rio Grande Val
ley!
To the best of our information. it was
a rather chance meeting between d. A.
O'Brien and w. T. Eldridge at Austin
year or so ago that resulted in FL
dridge' deciding that he wanted to link
up with the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
O'Brien's Rio Grande railroad was in
a tight.
So Eldridge visited the Lower Rio
Grande Valley. He brought with him
a Kempner from Galveston and some
others. They saw everything that was
to be seen, heard great deal more
and like magic. O'Brien's nightmare of
first mortgage bonds that were about
due with interest, disappeared. Eldridge
took care of that.
There was still great deal of money
needed to complete standardization OF
the Rio Grande railroad.
A few months passed Then, again
like magic. splendid new crossties began
to appear. FIRST class steel rails rolled
in as If out Of the air.
Money was provided to meet payrolls
for the trackworkers along the line. To
the tune of from $4,000 to $25OO
month. it came right along. going into
labor in rebuilding the Rio Grande in
preparation for stsnda rdizng.
Then, again like magic, a splendid
passenger mailexpress motor car. gaso-
line propelled, appeared-a fine car
costing. we are told. around $4,000,
perhaps more.
Eldridge has said little insofar as we
have seen, but he has done much. Evi-
dences are fine, straight tracks for miles
down the Rio Grande roadbed, carload
after carload Of the best ties the mar
kit had, car after car of steel rails and
spikes and fishplates and all the ether
material that go into the construction
of a railroad.
And the wonder of it all-and FL
dridge--is that things have not stepped
with the railroad.
The former rice mill, building that
could not be replaced today for $780,
600. was put up for trustees sale. FL
diidge learned Of it, The mill was r.
c"ted right adjoining the Rio Grande's
Brownsville terminal property. He had
a representative present, bid in the
building for something like S12 900. az,
sumed the remainder of the indC bted-
ness on the building, making the total
cost to him something like $37 ,OOO-and
now he has wonderful potential ware
house property.
Where and when will the wonder of
it all cease?
Eldridge has railroad about so
miles long up at Sugar Land 1t is
known the Sugarland railroad. Over
near San Antonio he has the Asherton
e. Gulf, also a short line. In addition.
he controls a good share of the stock
of the San Antonio, Uvalde G. Gulf rail
road.
All this activity an active. energet-
ic, forcefu and rtsourceful individual
means something to the Lower Rio
Grsnde Valley. We are not informed as
to his ultimate plans, though it is plain
that Eldridge is laying the ground for
the long prof fcted rail line from Point
Isabel. through the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. to San Antonio
A man does not pour quarter Of
million dollars into project without a
well defined plan toward an ultimate
object.
the Rio Grande railroad.
There are big things in the air for the
Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Mr.. Jacobson, anxious to get his dredge
out of the inner channel at Brazos Is
land harbor, now says that it will not
cost much more to complete the work
on the inner channel after the work on
the outer channel. is completed. Pre-
vously kilograms from his office indi-
Gated that he was not particularly ana
xious' to hold his dredge at Brazos be-
cause of some work he must do at Port
Arkansas. Evidently Mr. jacobson and
his office have not been in close touch
with each other. His office is at Gal
weston. His last message came from
him personally at Arkansas Pass.
The sum of $4,000 is not going to
keep the Lower Rio Grande Valley from
having a harbor at BraZos Island. Let's
all remember that. and also that it's
just one of the obstacles that arise in
great undertaking. The only thing to
do is to meet them-and owe rcome them.
H. M~-AL 0Il R.ko