USA > Texas > A comprehensive history of Texas, 1685-1897 > Part 46
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The great commercial enterprise in which Texas in common with the entire Western country has been for many years deeply interested is the obtaining of a safe and commodious harbor on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. This has appar- ently been at last accomplished at Galveston. The following statement of operations there in the matter of securing deep water by the "jetty system" has been kindly furnished by the contractors whose labors have done so much towards attaining the desired object :---
"As a result of the rapid increase of population during the past decade throughout that vast portion of the United States lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and the immense volume of its products from the grain-fields of Kansas and Nebraska, as well as the enormous tonnage of cotton grown in Texas and the Indian Territory, equalling one-third of the entire crop produced by the United States, no other public question has occupied so much attention upon the part of the people of Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Arkansas, and the entire West and Southwest, as the obtaining of a deep-water port upon the Texas coast, which would enable the people of this immense territory to reach tide-water with their products and to receive manufactured articles pur- chased in the East, as well as imported merchandise and products, by a rail route of 600 to 1200 miles shorter than by shipment via the Great Lakes or all-rail routes to and from the Atlantic seaboard. All political parties and men engaged in all occupations have from the beginning been of one mind upon this important subject ; and public sentiment finally united in concerted action at a convention held in the city of Topeka, Kansas, in ISS5, at which almost every Western and Southwestern State was represented. At this convention Congress was memo- rialized to select the most suitable location to be found on the Gulf coast of Texas, and to construct a deep-water port and harbor where vessels of the deepest draught could enter or leave port in all stages of weather.
"This action of the 'Deep Water Convention' at Topeka resulted in the pass- age of an act by Congress, constituting a board of engineers to examine every available location on the Texas coast. for the purpose of selecting for improvement the most suitable locality for a deep-water port, as well as for a harbor of refuge for vessels of the navy, where a depth of thirty feet of water could be secured and maintained from the Gulf to an inland harbor of ample proportions to accommodate the shipping for which the port was designed.
"After a complete examination of the coast, the Board of Engineers recom- mended that the entrance to Galveston Harbor be improved, as the conditions dis- covered at this point would permit the construction of a port, in accordance with the act of Congress, more economically and effectually than elsewhere.
"The recommendations of the board were adopted by Congress in an Act approved September 19, 1890, appropriating $500,000 for continuing improvement to entrance to Galveston Harbor, and providing 'That contracts may be entered
769
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
into by the Secretary of War for such materials and work as may be necessary to carry out the plan contained in the report of the Chief of Engineers for Eighteen Hundred and Eighty-Six for the improvement of that Harbor ;' in pursuance of which a contract was entered into May 12, 1891, by the government with O'Connor, Laing & Sinoot, of Dallas, Texas, for the completion of the entire works, these contractors having undertaken the work on termis more favorable to the government than any other propositions which could be secured.
" As early as 1870, appropriations were made by the Federal Congress to begin the work of deepening the harbor of Galveston, and for a number of years following that date small appropriations were made from year to year for the Galveston Harbor, as well as for several other harbors upon the Texas coast. Up to 1880 there had been appropriated for Galveston Harbor $610,000, which was spent in dredging and in an ineffectual attempt to construct jetties of gabionades. These gabionades were large baskets woven of brush and covered with cement, and filled with sand and placed in position along the line of the jetty.
" The authorities were compelled to resort to some such practice in lieu of the use of stone, as available quarries along the lines of railroad tributary to Galveston did not exist. The experiments with gabionades was more or less a failure, and the gabionades have entirely disappeared.
"In 18So the manner of building the jetties was changed, rock having now become accessible, and jetties were projected consisting of brush and rock, to follow approximately the lines upon which the work had been done in previous years. Between 1880 and 1884 $970,000 was expended in construction of the South Jetty of brush mattresses and rock. Thus, in fourteen years, appropriations had been made aggregating about S1.600,000. Many times during this period the suspension of work became necessary through lack of funds. The plant and machinery procured were necessarily insufficient, in view of the fact that the sums to be appropriated in the future were wholly in doubt. The expenditure of Federal appropriations upon neighboring harbors had necessarily resulted in smaller appro- priations for Galveston Harbor, and not until Congress abandoned the sinaller har- bors to the south of Galveston and concentrated appropriations at the latter place was substantial progress possible.
"The estimated cost of the entire work by the jetty system, completed and including all expenditures since work was started in 1870, was $8, 478, 000.
Amounts expended in small contracts, dredging, gabionades . $2,278,000.00 6,200,000.00
Balance to complete works .
"The plans proposed by the Board of Engineers for securing deep water on the Galveston Bar were severely criticised and condemned by many eminent engineers throughout the country, and by engineers and contractors who had previously secured contracts with the government for obtaining deep water at other points. It was the opinion of Mr. Haupt and Captain Eads, as expressed before Congressional Committees and in the press, that the plans proposed would result either in shoaling the bar or fail wholly to produce the result required. This opposition was without result, as previously stated, and Congress adopted the report of the Board of Engineers, and a contract was made with Messrs. O'Connor, Laing & Smoot on May 12, 1891, for the construction and completion of the entire jetty works, and such dredging as might be necessary to afford the channel depth across the bar which was required by the commerce of the port and comprehended in the project which had been adopted by Congress.
"Messrs. O'Connor, Laing & Smoot immediately began the construction of a plant of machinery, boats, and appliances which would be required for the rapid building of the jetties, and at the same time opened up quarries for the supply of stone and granite at six to seven different points along the lines of as many separate railroads, the most distant of the quarries being three hundred miles from Galveston.
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770
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
It was estimated that the following quantities of work and material would be required to complete the jetties : 54,000 linear feet railway and trestle, 1,440,000 tons (2000 pounds ) sandstone riprap, 684,000 tons (2000 pounds) granite blocks. This tremendous quantity of stone can be more readily comprehended when it is stated that the stone would load over 100,000 cars with more than 40,000 pounds each, and, it placed in a single train, would exceed ;oo miles in length.
"In a short time the contractors had massed the following plant on the works at Galveston and at the several quarries, in preparation for the inauguration of the great work which was to require five years of unceasing push and labor to accon- plish the purpose for which the works were designed :-
Boats.
Two tugs, cost
$46,500.00
Granite barges .
67,500.00
Derrick barges
35,000.00
Transfer barges
10,500.00
Water barges
6,000.00
Total 12 vessels, all built new for this work $165,500.00
Locomotives, pile-drivers, cars, etc. . $31,900.00
Railroad tracks and wharves, South Jetty
47.998.00
Railroad tracks and wharves, North Jetty
65,5SS.00
Buildings, tanks, bins, etc. 10, 150.00
Machinery and plant, granite quarry
13,250.00
Machinery and plant, sandstone quarry
14,500.00
Derricks, tracks, and wharves, Clinton
4,500.00
Railroad spurs to quarries, 2634 miles
21,400.00
Machinery and plant, Millican Quarry .
6,100.00
Machinery and plant, Clay Station Quarry
10, 115.00
Machinery and plant, Muldoon Quarry. 7,850.00
3,920.00
237,271.00
$402,771.00
" The following table shows the quarries which have been operated for a supply of stone, and the railroads and distances over which sanie was transported to Galveston :
Quarries.
Railroads.
Distance in Miles.
Granite :
Granite Mountain, via
A. & N. W.
74
Granite Mountain, via
H. & T. C.
166
Granite Mountain, via
G. C. & S. F. 53
293
Sandstone :
Ledbetter, via
H. & T. C. 98
Ledbetter, ria
I. & G. N.
49
147
Millican, via
H. & T. C.
81
Millican, via
I. &. G. N.
49
130
Muldoon, via
S. A. & A. P.
157
Muldoon, via
I. & G. N.
49
206
Quarry Station, via .
G. C. & S. F. 138
Clay Station, via .
G. C. & S. F.
154
Dodge, via
I. & G. N.
122
414
1190
Machinery and plant, Dodge Quarry.
771
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
" Between two and three thousand railway cars being constantly required for a steady and uniform movement of the stuff, it was necessary to open quarries on the several railways in order to obtain a sufficient supply of cars.
"The first shipment of rock was put in the work by the contractor on July 31, 1892, and work has been prosecuted day and night without intermission ever since. The South Jetty received the entire attention of the contractors until that jetty reached the crest of the bar, a distance of 32, 800 feet, in May, 1893, when work on this jetty was suspended and construction begun on the North Jetty. While work was in progress on the South Jetty, the contractors made all necessary preparations for opening work on the North Jetty without the loss of a day, as soon as the South Jetty should be built to the bar.
" The North Jetty was to be built from Bolivar Peninsula, starting on the Gulf shore and building out into the Gulf towards the bar, four miles at sea. Bolivar Peninsula is a low sand-spit half covered with water at high tide, and no wharf or landing existing along its shores where a railroad-tie or a ton of coal could be unloaded.
"The water for half a mile off the coast was only a few inches to two or three feet deep, thereby necessitating the construction of wharves and railroad tracks from the water end, and then building same on towards land, where the locomotives and cars loaded with material and the machinery required for the construction of the yards and wharves could be ferried across the channel from Galveston and landed.
"An extensive storage yard capable of holding 400 standard railway cars was completed, and railway tracks with all necessary sidings and switches constructed across Bolivar Peninsula to the site of the North Jetty, in readiness to begin the delivery of stone into the jetty when work on the South Jetty should be suspended. Work on the North Jetty was commenced in April, 1893.
"A large steel twin-screw tug had been constructed at Camden, New Jersey, especially for the work to be done on the jetties. This tug was lashed to barges having three railroad tracks on deck, which were loaded at Galveston with the cars of rock as they came from the quarries, and ferried two and a half miles across the Bolivar channel to the wharves or landings at Bolivar above described. A locomo- tive met the ferry-boat on Bolivar wharf and drew the cars from the barge, reloading same with empty cars, which had just been discharged of their loads of stone or railway materials.
"The construction of the North Jetty was similar to the method pursued in the building of the South Jetty. First, a trestle-work for a standard gauge railway track is built, supported on two to five large piles, which are driven deep into the bottom of the sea. These bents of piling are driven 15 feet apart, and, owing to the great depth of water and soft bottom occasionally found, piles of 70 and 75 feet are required to afford a sufficient support for the locomotives and heavily-loaded stone cars which are to pass over samc.
" The cars of sandstone are pushed out on this trestle by locomotives and the stone unloaded from the sides and ends of the cars by hand. Trainload after train- load of stone is unloaded into the sea at the bottom of work which is being built up, until the embankmert of stone reaches a height of two feet above mean low tide, the stone meanwhile taking its natural slope on the sides of the jetty, which is generally one foot vertical to one and one-half fect horizontal. To prevent the dis- placement of this stone by wave-action, a covering of heavy granite blocks is brought on barges by the contractors down Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay and towed out to that portion of the jetty where work is in progress and unloaded and placed on the jetty with enormous floating derricks.
"The regularity of the surface of the jetty when covered by these immense blocks of granite is such that waves of large size pass over the jetty, displacing no materials, none but the top surfaces of the granite blocks being exposed, and their great weight securing them in their positions against the force and fury of the waves.
772
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
"The height of the crest of the jetty is 5 feet above mean low tide. Its width at the base is as great as 110 feet where the water is deep. The foundation of the rock-work is immediately upon the sand bottom of the Gulf, and yet the subsidence or settlement of the jetties is in no place more than a few inches, which is either due to the compression of the bottom or the settlement to a firmer bed of the separate stones, due to vibration of a mass when struck by a heavy sea.
"Coincident with the building of the jetties, when the same approached the bar, came rapid increases of depths available for vessels entering the harbor.
"On the outer bar when work began there was a depth of 12 feet. The com- pletion of the South Jetty to a length of 32,000 feet increased the depth in the navigable channel to 1334 feet on March 2, 1893 ; the rapid construction of the North Jetty increased this depth to 14 feet on March 2, 1894, and on March 2, 1895, to 15 feet, with a straight channel, while formerly the channel had been very tortuous and difficult to navigate, and the grounding of vessels on the bar was a not infrequent occurrence. This was obviated by the channel becoming straight and easily navigable, the flow of the currents having been controlled and directed by the jetties.
"To recapitulate : The depth when work began was 12 feet ; the depth on March 2, 1893, was 1334 feet ; the depth on March 2, 1891, was 14 fect ; the depth on March 2, 1895, was 15 feet ; the depth on March 2, 1896, was 22 feet. While at this date we have 24 feet of water at mean low tide, capable of floating the largest vessels in the world when loaded with cotton, which is the great export commodity of this harbor. This rapid and steady increase in the depth of water on the bar justifies the expectation that 25 feet of water will be available within a few months, and ultimately a depth of 30 feet, which is capable of floating any vessel, merchant or war, that now navigates the waters of the globe.
" Major Alexander M. Miller, corps of engineers, United States army, took charge of the Galveston Harbor works as representative of the government in March, 1893, and he was soon followed by First Lieutenant William V. Judson as assistant engineer in charge. To the able management of these officers and their untiring efforts to complete the works at the earliest date possible, in order to place at the service of the commerce of the country the deep-water harbor which had been so long desired, is due the utmost credit for the splendid results obtained, and the wonderful success achieved at Galveston, where failure was freely predicted by well-known engineers for the novel methods proposed by the engineers of the army, adds new lustre to the reputation of that corps which has so long been famous for the genius and ability of its several officers, as well as for its integrity and patriotism as a body.
" In connection with the history of deep water at Galveston, the following abstract of appropriations made by Congress for improving that harbor will be of interest :---
By act of July 11, 1870
$25,000.00
By art of March 3, 18,1
20,000.00
By act of June 10, 1872
31,000.00
By act of June 23, 1874 60,000.00
By act of March 3, 1875 150,000,00
By act of August 14, 1876 1.42,000.00
By act of June 7, ISTS 75,000.00
By act of June IS, I878 50,000.00
By act of March 3. 1879 100,000.00
By act of June 14, ISSO
175.000,00
By art of March 3, 15SI
250,000.00
By act of March 4, 1SS? 100,000,00
By act of August 2, 1582
300,000,00
Total amount of appropriations expended on dredging, gabions,
$1,475,000.00 and sundry projects
773
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
" The following appropriations were expended on the present project, which is now nearly completed :-
By act of August 5, 1886 $300,000.00
By act of August 11, ISSS
500,000.00
By act of September 19, 1890
500,000.00 .
By act of March 3, 1891
600,000.00
By act of August 5, IS92 450,000.00
By act of March 3, 1893 .
1,000,000.00
By act of August 18, 1894
600,000.00
By act of January 25, 1895 200,000.00
By act of March 2, 1895
1, 160,000.00
By act of January, 1896
300,000.00
By act of June 17, 1896
$40,000.00
Total amount appropriated for present work to this date
$6,450,000.00
Distribution of amounts appropriated, including pay- ment for work to June, 1896 :--
Cost of South Jetty
$1,994,907.33
Cost of shore branch of South Jetty
174, 143.44
Cost of North Jetty
2, S07,055.2S
Cost of dredging by contract 74,997.07
Cost of dredge "Comstock" and outfit 95,268.54
Cost of operating " Comstock" to May 31, 1896 27,208.71
Contingent expenses of work since July 1, 1897
308,223.05
Total amount expended to June 17, 1896 . 5,481,803.42
Balance available June 17, 1896 $968, 196.58
"In addition to amount expended on South Jetty on present project the sum of $730,000 was expended on this jetty under former projects. Of this sum it is estimated that $574,000 was utilized as cost of foundation work for present jetty.
"Cost of dredge, dredging, and shore branch of South Jetty were not in- cluded in estimate for construction of jetties.
From the total amount appropriated to June 17, 1896 $6,450,000.00
Deduct the amount allotted ior dredging 250,000.00
Balance available for construction of jetties $6,200,000.00 Estimated cost of constructing jetties in ISS6 7,000,000.00
Amount remaining to be appropriated to complete jetties $800,000,00
June 17, 1896, balance available . 968,196.58
Total amount of funds available for the work $1,768,196.58
Deduct balance of allotment for dredging $52,525.68
Deduct cost of engineer's supervision to June 30, 1897 40,000.00
92,525.68
Balance available for jetty construction $1,675,670.90 Estimated cost of completing jetties to the limits estimated in 1886 1,200,000.00
Amount that will probably be saved
$475,670.90
"The contractors, Messrs. John F. O'Connor & E. K. Smoot (Mr. Laing having retired from the firm), undertook this enormous work in the summer of 1891, with no plant or machinery available for prosecuting the work, many special machines having to be constructed. The building of the jetties has required the quarrying, transportation, and delivery into the jetties up to this date of the almost incredible number of 60,000 carloads of stone.
" In the aggregate an army of men are employed, and the active co-operation of six separate railroads has been essential to the rapid delivery of the stone. In addition, Messrs. O'Connor & Smoot have operated at the jettics four locomo-
774
A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF TEXAS.
tives, two steam-tugs, a transfer or ferry of 215 miles, with a capacity for handling 125 cars per day, loaded and light, or 250 cars in twenty-four hours, two double- derrick barges, having a capacity for lifting twenty tons each derrick, and a barge line down Buffalo Bayou from Houston to Galveston for the transportation of the enormous blocks of granite which cover the top and sides of the jetties, twelve barges being constantly employed by the contractors, besides three steam railway pile-drivers, railway derrick cars, and numerous smaller machinery of the special character required for the rapid and economical execution, repair, and maintenance of the jetties and their extensive plant of machinery.
" With the employment of large capital and the individual energy and direc- tion of Messrs. O'Connor & Smoot, who are among the largest and most success- ful of the engineers and contractors of the times, the Galveston jetty works have been constructed far in advance of the requirements of the contract with the gov- ernment, and the contractors are now approaching the successful completion of their works. Through their skill, energy, and ability the government for its use as a harbor of refuge and the commerce which has already commenced to flow through the jetties are benefited several years in time ; in addition, the unexpected effect of the currents in scouring away the sands immediately following the rapid building of the jetties is a result which may not have attended a more tardy com- pletion of the jetties to the bar.
"The scouring of the currents between the jetties has now removed nearly 20,000,000 cubic yards of sand and mud. this material having been carried out to sea and borne away by the currents which flow along the coast. The work of the dredges, which has been concentrated on the shallowest points or knolls which were left by the action of the currents in the channel across the bar, has resulted in the removal of 600,000 cubic yards of material.
" Both jetties are now being extended out into the Gulf, their sea ends being in 27 feet of water. Probably one year will be required for the completion of the jetties to their final limits, or to 30 feet of water in the Gulf, where their ends will be spread to serve as foundations for light-houses. It is expected when the jetties are built to 30 feet of water that a similar depth will be scoured by the cur- rents across the bar, and that the same agency will maintain a channel of this depth. with approximate regularity of direction ; which latter, however, may require the occasional operation of the hydraulic dredge which has been constructed especially for this work, and has already rendered valuable assistance in opening a direct channel as above described.
"The total length of the completed jetties will probably be about 65,000 feet, or more than twelve miles. The bar has moved out about 1200 fect since con- struction began on the jetties in 1891, which will increase the cost of the completed jetties above that originally estimated, provided it is found advisable to continue the construction of the jetties until their ends are in 30 feet of water. This addi- tional cost over and above the original estimate will, however, be largely overcome by the economy of construction up to this date, the works as far as they have been completed having been built at a cost of $475,000 less than estimated.
"The contractors, Messrs. O' Connor & Smoot, enjoy the distinction of having successfully carried out the first continuous contract inaugurated by the Congress of the country ; and their work at Galveston has been so far appreciated by Congress that all of the larger river and harbor works of the country, by the bill passed in June, 1896, are placed under this system."
The growth of manufacturing industries has been of comparatively recent date in Texas. The sparsity of population, the distance from the great centres of trade and distribution, and the difficulties and expense of transportation have all been serious impediments to the development of such enterprises. Yet there are many
775
WOOTEN-RESULTS OF FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS.
flourishing and profitable factories now in operation, and their number and efficiency are steadily increasing. Cotton- and woollen-mills, iron-foundries, salt-works, coal- and iron-mines, cement- and lime-works, rope-factories, cotton-seed-oil-mills, flour- ing- and lumber-mills, tanneries and leather goods factories, and in fact every species of manufactory for the conversion of raw material into finished products, are in suc- cessiul and constantly increasing activity throughout the State.
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