Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1926-06-18
I'm OUR
VALLEY.


tent these days.
What with harbors and bridges,
us area is keeping some sections
the fighting forces busy.
various and sundry sets of plans
international bridges at Browns
lie have been filed with the depart
snt for approval.
Colonel Sam Robertson asks per-
mission to bid causeway across
the LaguRa Madre, connecting the
ma,ni1&G with Padre Island.
rrS chamber of commerce wants
70 know show come" its planned to
remove troops from Fort Brown. and
even. possibly. to abandon Fort
Brown. (Which has been found un-
true, by the way).
And these things have all been in
addition to the various activities in
connection with Brazos Santiago har-
bor, which Is soon to be converted
from a non -navigable into one which
can handle any boat that can ply in
16 feet of water.
Major Schley, the army engineer
In charge of this district, announced
in Brownsville yesterday that pre-
liminary work on Brazos Santiago
harbor is to be started at once.
From forty TO eighty men will be
engaged in the work, many Of them
engineers and foremen. the others
workers of various sorts.
The Point promises to present a
very busy scene this summer. And
will continue for at least a year, the
estimated time required to complete
the work.
Brazos Santiago is soon TO become
a reality from a port standpoint. And
goodness knows, the Valley has been
waiting for it for six or seven years.
Which after all is not so long when
one recalls that daily newspaper pub
lished in Brownsville in the late SOS
of the last century agitated day after
day for the construction Of an ade-
quate harbor at Point Isabel And
that was in the days before there was
any railroad connection with the
outer world.
The McAllen Press reports that
farmers growing tomatoes in the
Mission section for the first time
have had unusual success
VI. Tuno, a Japanese farmer south
of Mission. had nine acres, and sold
half of the crop to Wade & Newton
Of McAllen for $3.0ll.
DIR. L. B. Ash. two miles north Of
I Mission. attempted tomatoes this year
for the first time, an acre bringing
him S4O7.
O. j. Anderson, Sharyland. used one
acre Of ground for tomatoes and re-
ceived 1886 for the crop.
Tomatoes was considered crop
more adapted TO the lower part of the
/ Valley than to the upper, and few
had been raised.
Perhaps the situation will change in
view Of these individual successes.
.
No, Clarence. the tile that is being
used in the walls Of Hotel 'El Jar
din will not supply the exterior Of
the building that will be on public
view.
Stucco is to cover the rather un-
slightly tile. And this stucco is going
TO be a stuccco of considerable color.
we are informed. That color will be
salmon pink. il you please, the same
as that used on the Fleetwood Hotel
at Miami, or so we are informed: so
far we haven't see either the Fleet
wood or Miami.
This explanation has been request
ed for the benefit of some who did
not believe that tile appeared just
right as an exterior. Perhaps they
had never studied Spanish styles of
architecture, all of which call for
stucco, either on tile or on a rough
7 brick.
Sixty years ago, when some of the
brick buildings recently razed IN
Brownsville were constructed. build
f-sss paid for brick on different basis
from that used today.
Or 90 saws contractor who ex-
plained that in those days the owner
of the building paid by the thousand
for the brick actually placed in the
construction. The result was tnat
the contractor. who also made the
brick, found it TO his interest to use
lust as many brick as possible.
Which. the present day contractor
saws. accounts for the discovery OF
brick laid in places Tor which there
was practically no reason. FOR IN
stance, in remodeling one building
something like 5000 brick were found
beneath the floor. there for no ap-
parent reason.
In another building recently razed
by purchaser of the property more
than 10000 brick were found beneath
a frame structure. They were used
again in the construction of walls Tor
a new building. Perfectly good for
the purpose" the contractor said.
This was mud brick. Most of the
old time buildings in Brownsville
were erected Of mud brick. They
have stood the test of time and In
many cases are being used in con-
struction of interior walls in new
buildings Some of these buildings
have stood for 20 years.
Yet a San Antonio architect de-
clines to permit a Brownsville made
tile. made by modern machinery and
under the direction of expert clay
handlers, to be used in the construc-
tion of a one-story school building
in Brownsville.
Perhaps he has never heard of
Brownsville mud brick, made 70 years
ngo and still in good use.