New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 14

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Port Arthur-Port Entry of Sabine District.

Port Arthur, Texas, is the port of entry and chief port of the U. S. Customs District of Sabine, the district including the four ports of Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange and Sabine, the three latter named ports being sub-ports of Port Arthur.

Port Arthur came into existence with the com- pletion of the Port Arthur Ship Channel from Sa- bine Pass to the present Port Arthur harbor in 1897, and since then has constantly expanded the volume of her shipping industry.

Beaumont and Orange did not become deep-water ports until 1916, with the completion of the Sabine- Neches canal to a 25-foot depth. They, however, handled lumber cargoes in light draft vessels before that time.

At Port Arthur there are two harbors, the lower harbor giving dock space to the Port Arthur Canal & Dock Company and The Texas Company. The upper harbor, a mile above the lower harbor, is used altogether by the Gulf Refining Company, which created it.

The docks of the Port Arthur Canal & Dock Company and the ocean terminals of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, of which the Canal & Dock Company is a subsidiary, and are operated for the handling of the export traffic of that road.

The docks of the Gulf Refining Company are designed for the handling of bulk oil cargoes, and with the new 1,000-foot unit just completed, can accommodate sixteen vessels loading and discharg- ing at one time. The docks are all concrete, and front on the private harbor created by the Gulf Company at its plant. Recently the harbor was increased about 50 per cent in area by extensive excavation work on the west side. The Gulf Com- pany has considerable unimproved water frontage below its present wharf system, capable of develop- ment as the business of the company requires.

The docks of The Texas Company are located on what is termed "The Island", on the main Port Arthur harbor, opposite the docks of the Port Arthur Canal & Dock Company. The plant includes bulk oil docks capable of accommodating six vessels at one time, and case oil docks with space for three vessels, with an additional bulk oil wharf at the juncture of the Port Arthur Ship Canal and the harbor where three more vessels can be accommo- dated. The case oil dock is equipped with Link-Belt conveyor and spiral loading devices which make the dock one of the fastest in the country, having a capacity of 40,000 cases per eight-hour day.

Waterfront Facilities of Port Arthur Canal & Dock Company.

Two slips, Nos. 2 and 3, open from the north side of the ship basin, both of which have been improved by the construction of docks, warehouses, elevator, cotton seed cake mill, etc. Each slip has a depth of 26 feet.

Cotton Pier.

Length 2300 feet. Warehouse equipped with sprinkler system. Warehouse floors 11 feet above m. l. t.

Coastwise Merchandise and Grain Elevator Pier.

Length 2300 feet. Warehouse floors 11 feet above m. l. t. Clearance inside warehouse 16 feet.

Elevator-Capacity 500,000 bushels. Plans now being prepared to add 700,000 bushels storage to present elevator.

General Export Pier.

Length 1500 feet. Warehouse floors 11 feet above m. l. t.

Cotton Seed Cake Mill-Capacity 400 tons daily. The Port Arthur port is second only to New York in foreign imports, and fifth in United States in total foreign trade.

Lumber Pier.

Length 1760 feet. Warehouse floors 8 feet above m. l. t. All warehouses protected by 6-foot fire walls 350 feet apart, and entire water front prop- erty protected by high pressure mains.

Terminal Yards of the Kansas City Southern Railway have 46.25 miles of trackage, comprising

Proctor Street, One of the Busy Streets of Port Arthur dock service tracks, storage yards, industry tracks, etc.

The following countries are represented by con- suls in Port Arthur: Argentine, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, England, Haiti, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Spain and Uruguay.

Hospitals, Etc.

U. S. Public Health Service Clinic, Federal Build- ing.

U. S. Public Health Service Wards, Mary Gates Hospital, 150 Lake Shore Drive.

Merchant Marine Hospital, Drs. Winter & Winter, Adams Building.

Seamen's Church Institute, Rev. J. A. Frampton in charge, 136 Proctor Street.

Public Improvements.

The city and waterfront are connected by a mod- ern asphalt highway, and the city is modern and well equipped in every way. An extensive general program of improvement and building is rapidly

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

bringing it to the front among the cities of the South.

Steamship Service From Port Arthur.

To Alaska, Antwerp, Arabia and Levant, Aus- tralia, Black Sea ports, Brazil, Uruguay and Argen- tina, Bremen, China, Copenhagen, Christobal and Canal Zone, Dutch East Indies, French Mediter- ranean ports, Ghent, Hamburg, India, Italian ports, Japan, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Mexican ports, Pacific Coast, New York, Philippines, Porto Rico, Rotterdam, South Africa, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Venezuela, Guiana, West Africa, Canary Islands, West Indies and Gulf ports of U. S. A.

Unimproved Waterfrontage.

Along the Sabine-Neches Canal, both above and below the city and for a considerable distance up the Neches River, there is extensive deep water frontage not as yet improved or in use for shipping and industrial purposes. Approximately sixteen miles of frontage is now available within five miles of the city, all fronting on a water depth of twenty- five feet. Beyond the five-mile radius, the Neches and Sabine Rivers, which empty into the Sabine- Neches Canal also have twenty-five foot depth. Within eight miles of the city, three new refining plants are now projected or in process of erection. They include the plant of the Humphreys Pure Oil Company and the new plant of the Magnolia Pe- troleum Company, both under construction a short distance above Port Neches, and the plant of the Atlantic Refining Company, to be built six miles north of Port Arthur. All three plants are on the Neches River, and are served by the tracks of the Kansas City Southern Railway, which has an indus- try track parallel to the water front above the city.

Population.

1898-421. 1900-765. 1910-7,663. 1920-22,251. 1921-25,588. 1925-41,618. 1898, when the city was incorporated, estimated population. 1921 figure is Official Estimate of U. S. Census Bureau as of Jan. 1, 1921. 1925 figure is based on scholastic population.

Port Arthur, Texas, came into being in 1896 when a townsite was laid on the present location of the city by surveyors of the old Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railway, which was built by Arthur E. Stil- well as the shortest possible line from Kansas City to tide water. For the first three or four years, the future port of entry of the Sabine district grew very slowly and its total population was less than 800 in 1900. A year later with the discovery of oil at Spindletop, near Beaumont, the news was flashed to the world that Texas had become an important producer of oil.

Following this discovery Port Arthur was chosen as the site for two of the largest oil concerns in the Southwest, namely, the Gulf Refining Company and The Texas Company. From that time on its progress was assured. Between 1910 and 1920 Port Arthur trebled in population.

This growth is all the more remarkable in that it was made without the aid of any of the war indus- tries which were responsible for huge increases in the population of other places. As a matter of fact, the war operated to restrict the growth of the oil refining industry by preventing the securing of necessary materials for contemplated enlarge-

ments of plants and the refineries made but slight increase in capacity during the war. Since then, however, there have been a number of enlargements made, until at this time the refining industry at Port Arthur is the largest in the world.

Figures taken from the annual report of the United States Bureau of Mines show that on Jan- uary 1, 1922, the total daily capacity of the refin- eries in the Houston, Texas, district, including all plants between Houston and Galveston, was rated at 44,700 barrels. The total capacity of all plants on the Mississippi River in the New Orleans dis- trict, that is from Baton Rouge to the gulf, was 98,900 barrels, while the capacity of the Port Arthur district was given at 170,000 barrels.

The ocean movement of oils refined at Port Ar- thur is so great that in the past four years it has sent the Port Arthur total of cargoes moved by vessels to a higher total than that of either Gal- veston or New Orleans. The annual report of the chief of engineers of the United States Army for 1921 showed the 1920 total for Port Arthur at 11,575,742 tons; for New Orleans at 11,090,180 tons; and for Galveston, 10,447,831 tons.

Port Arthur is keeping pace in all ways with her growth in population and business. There is a con- stant expansion of street paving, water, sewer and other public utilities, and of her school system, al- ready rated as among the finest in the Southwest. The future appears to promise even more of expan- sion for the city than has been achieved thus far, as the waterfront yet available for industrial use is now in great demand for manufacturing concerns.

Port Arthur has unquestionably a great future be- fore it. It is the natural outlet of the Southwest which in barely twenty years has become the great- est oil producing region in the world.

Climate.

Neither California nor Florida has any climatic advantage over the immediate vicinity of Port Ar- thur. For the past eight years the annual average temperature has been 68.8, with 81.9 the highest average for July, and 51.2 the lowest average for January. The coldest day showed a temperature of 12 above, while the hottest reached 100 but once. The rainfall is ample but not excessive, the annual average being 54.53 inches.

Schools and Colleges.

In this most important factor, Port Arthur stands far ahead of any other city of her size or class. Some years ago, it was realized that the rapid growth in population, reflected especially in the rapid increase in the scholastic census each year, made something more than a haphazard plan neces- sary. Briefly, this system is a rotation of study, recitation and play which holds the interest of the children without exhausting them by too lengthy work along any one line.

Public Library.

Arthitecturally one of the most perfect structures in the South, the Memorial Library, erected by Mrs. John W. Gates, meets the need of the city most thoroughly. Its shelves are already well filled with several thousand volumes, and these are constantly being added to by donations and purchases. The library is free to the public and is open throughout the year.

ORANGE

By THE ORANGE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

O RANGE is located in Southeast Texas on the Sabine River about forty miles north of where it enters the Gulf of Mexico. Its geographical location is L. 93º45' W., L. 30°05' N. The Sabine River has been improved and the port has been developed along the most modern lines.

The present City of Orange was originally settled about 1836, and was known as "Green's Bluff." Some time in the forties the name of the little vil- lage was changed to Jefferson, and about 1850 to that of Madison, which in turn gave way in 1856 to the present name of Orange, the latter being adopt- ed from the fact that there were large orange

Orange Lutcher Memorial Presbyterian Church

groves in this locality at that time. Orange was first incorporated in 1858 and John Fielding was the first mayor. Due to conditions brought on by the war between the states, the incorporation was al- lowed to lapse in 1861, but it was again incorporated in 1881 and Mr. B. F. Norsworthy was elected mayor. The little city struggled along for several years. The lumbering and ship building industries finally attracted the attention of northern and eastern men of vision to the tremendous possibilities of these industries, backed by the apparent almost inexhaustible supply of timber.

Navigation on the Sabine River, which serves as the boundary line between Texas and Louisiana, dates back many, many years. Even before a development program was launched, in its lower reaches an extensive schooner trade was carried on with the islands of the West Indies. Government aid has made possible a channel from the Gulf of Mexico to Orange with a minimum depth of 26 feet, and of sufficient width top and bottom to accom- modate the largest vessels. Under an act of con- gress passed September 22, 1922, sufficient money was appropriated to continue work on the channel and provide a minimum depth of 30 feet, which will insure a depth sufficient to care for the largest freight vessels plying the Gulf of Mexico.

In the construction of the wharves and ware- houses creosoted timbers and piling have been used except in the case of one warehouse which has a steel frame. It was the desire of the Orange Wharf & Dock Commission to construct and pro-

vide terminals of the finest character which were built after a careful survey of other ports to de- termine upon the best types of structures suitable for the class of freight predominating in this sec- tion. The docks and warehouses are located along- side a slip dredged in from the river 4,000 feet in length, 280 feet wide at the top, 200 feet bottom width, and 26 feet deep.

The first warehouse constructed, an iron-clad building with steel frame, is 60 feet wide and 300 feet long, designed to care principally for general cargo. When additional facilities were found nec- essary, a new type of construction was decided upon and all new units are of an improved type built so as to better accommodate lumber shipments, which forms the principal commodity moving through the port, but at the same time well adapted for general cargo needs. The second and third units are 90 feet by 400 feet and 90 feet by 200 feet respectively, separated by fire walls every 100 feet. The doors in the latter warehouses are directly opposite front and rear, and the railroad tracks on the land side are lowered so as to permit the floors of railroad cars to be on a level with the warehouse floor which permits of easy unload- ing and the trucking of freight directly through the warehouses to the dock apron for loading into vessels. The total covered area of all ware- houses amounts to 72,000 square feet, in addition to which there are two open platforms with a total of 15,840 square feet for the use of cargo which can be stored in the open.

The dock apron is 1504 feet long and 38 feet wide, equipped with two rail tracks with cross-overs and a locomotive crane of twenty tons capacity for heavy lifts and which is also used for switching cars on the apron. As the slip is 4,000 feet long there is ample space for further enlarging the facilities when conditions warrant and plans are already drawn up to cover future expansion.

The terminals are municipally owned and con-

Frances Ann Lutcher Hospital, Orange

trolled, including the track connecting the docks and the two rail lines serving the port, the Gulf Coast Lines and the Southern Pacific Lines. The Gulf Coast Lines is under contract to perform all switching to and from the city docks. Both of these lines own or control valuable river front property which will probably be further improved as condi- tions warrant.

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

For the handling of timbers, perhaps there is no port in the United States better equipped; cer- tainly not in the South. A timber skidway is lo- cated at the west end of the docking slip, and here timbers may be unloaded direct from cars into the slip for concentration and then loaded aboard ship from the water. If it is desired to hold timbers in storage they can be towed only a short distance to what is known as the "storage basin," a bend in the river long since eliminated for use of navigation by a cut-off dredged through a narrow neck of land to improve the channel, and there timbers may be stored in fresh water without danger of oil stain due to oil pollution of the water, as is the case in many other ports. It is in this basin that the United States Shipping Board has assembled one of its large fleets of idle vessels.

Orange is one of the principal points for the im- portation of the natural lake asphalt from the Island of Trinidad, and large quantities of this material are received over the municipal docks for distri- bution to all parts of the United States west of the Mississippi River. It is used principally in road building. Fertilizer and canned goods are other im- portant import articles. Lumber and rice form the principal exports, and large quantities of both are handled over the docks.

The figures here given indicate the volume of business passing over the municipal docks during the year 1923: Outbound-Lumber, 42,000,000 feet. Miscellaneous commodities, including rice, 2,890 tons. Inbound-Asphalt 6,754 tons; fertilizer, 5,376 tons. Canned goods and miscellaneous cargo 909 tons. The exports went to various foreign coun- tries among them being Africa, South America, Mexico, Europe, West Indies, Central America, etc.

The United States government has expended a very large sum of money in order to make possible the use of the Sabine River for ocean commerce, and

for all industrial purposes. Excellent sites for in- dustrial purposes are available along the water front. Two of the best oil fields in the coastal re- gions are located within a few miles of Orange, hav- ing a combined production of about 26,000 bbls. daily. The pumping in these fields is done largely by electric power furnished by the power house at Orange. The industrial adaptability of Orange was very strikingly manifested in the ship building era during the world war when six companies were in operation here, and Orange became the greatest wooden ship building center east of the Pacific

Orange County Court House

Coast. One of the largest companies, the Southern Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Company, readjusted it- self to car building and repairing as well as the fabricating of all kinds of iron and steel articles. This plant is now constructing freight cars for a great many of the railroads of the southwest, as well as all kinds of bridge material and structural steel of every character and size.

Orange is at present the western terminus of the Intracoastal Canal, which when completed will pro- vide an inland waterway connecting with the Mis- sissippi River at New Orleans and will serve as a means of water communication with Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio River points by barge

Oil Fields Near the City of Orange

while Orange is a comparatively small place from a standpoint of population, estimated at 15,000 peo- ple, it has within its limits some of the largest in- dustries in the State of Texas including lumber mills, rice mill, car building plant, iron and steel foundry, paper mill, box factory, bag factory, etc., and a large creosoting plant. An exceptionally well equipped power plant furnishes ample electric power

and light draft vessels, thus adding materially to the transportation facilities.

The slogan by which Orange is known is one that truly fits the conditions and embodies in a few words all the advantages Orange possesses as a city, a port, an industrial center and a place in which to make a home-"INDUSTRY'S VANTAGE POINT."

CORSICANA By CORSICANA' CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

C ORSICANA, located in the center of what is said to be the greatest oil field yet discovered in the mid-continent, offers an exceptionally fine opportunity for unprecedented growth at this time. The oil developments south, north, east and west, which extend for distance of thirty miles in each of these directions, can be conveniently reached from this center, and therefore, this city is fast becoming the recognized headquarters point of this territory. With many locations and drilling wells in Navarro County, and with practically all of the large mid-continent companies represented in the field, many pools are expected to be discovered.

This city, with thirty-one manufacturing plants, twenty-five wholesale houses, and seventy-five dis- trict agencies, offers an excellent opportunity for commercial and industrial development, for the reason that it is a recognized shipping point, being located on the main line of the Southern Pacific, north and south, Cotton Belt, east and west, T. & B. V., north and south, and a branch line of the Cotton Belt to Hillsboro, in addition to hourly in- terurban service north, both freight and passenger; and being on the main highways, north and south, and east and west, through the south.

The annual factory output of Corsicana is $15,- 000,000; goods sold at wholesale, $25,000,000; and a payroll from all sources of $4,780,000. These to- gether with the fifty oil companies located in this city make it an important commercial, industrial, agricultural and oil center. Bank deposits, Decem- ber call, 1921, show an increase of $307,000 over simi-

Home of the Corsicana Chamber of Commerce, the Livest Business Organization of the City

lar call 1920, and is within one hundred thousand dollars of the peak of general financial circum- stances, which was December, 1919. Postal receipts in 1921 were $52,000.

It might be interesting to review a little of the oil development history of this section of the state. It may be recalled that it was at Nacogdoches that

the first oil drilling experiment in Texas was made in 1889. Geologists had previously indicated oil deposits in that section. Those who put up the money and those that did the drilling of the first Texas oil well were untrained men, but were willing

CORSICANA BEATON ST.

A View Looking Down Beacon Street on a Busy Day in Corsicana

to take a chance. Of course, the people ridiculed this experiment.

The next step in the history of oil development in Texas was in 1895, at the time Corsicana was suffering from an insufficient water supply. The local citizens organized a water developing project, the capital of the company being $30,000, and their only desire being to develop artesian water for the city's use.

H. F. Johnston, of Corsicana, was at that time a successful artesian well driller. Jack Davidson, a practical well driller from Pennsylvania, was em- ployed to do the actual drilling. The well was spudded in on the outskirts of the town, and at a depth of 950 feet oil was struck. Davidson having had considerable experience in the drilling of oil wells in Pennsylvania, recognized the oil indications and possibilities and reported the same to Ralph Beaton and the other stockholders. The citizens of Corsicana were disappointed in the find, for they believed that the oil would injure the quality of the desired artesian water. The directors of the com- pany ordered the driller to go deeper.

Ralph Beaton, Henry Damon and Jack Davidson became interested in the oil find and began plans to develop the field. They secured leases covering ten thousand acres in the neighborhood. Mr. Beaton then began a search for a practical oil man to assist in the development. Some time later he succeeded in interesting Colonel Guffey of Pennsylvania. At that time Guffey was one of the big oil men of Pennsylvania. Colonel Guffey and John Galey, his field man and business associate, visited Corsicana and made an examination of the oil indications here. It is now recalled that Guffey was not impressed with the prospects, but Galey stated at that time, twenty-seven years ago, that he believed he was standing within fifty miles of a great oil pool. Ar- rangements were made whereby Guffey and Galey agreed to test the field on a fifty-fifty basis, Beaton and his associates agreeing to secure an additional block of acreage. The land owners leased their farms then for one-tenth royalty. The first well drilled produced two and one-half barrels per day,

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

the second one was dry and the third produced twenty-two barrels per day.

It is interesting to note that the last well is still producing. At that time there were no refineries in Texas, nor were there any means by which oil products could be handled, so this oil was sold for fuel purposes to factories in Dallas, Waxahachie, Tyler and other places.

Some time later, Messrs. Guffey and Galey made an offer to Beaton and his associates to buy or sell the entire Corsicana field for $30,000. Ralph Beaton, Henry Damon, H. W. White, S. W. Johnson, Aaron Ferguson and Fred Fleming bought the Guffey- Galey, interest. J. S. Cullinan, Pennsylvania oil man, was then interested in a plan of developing these fields. Beaton and his associates agreed to sell him five hundred thousand (500,000) barrels of oil at fifty cents (50c) per barrel, under the condition that he would erect the refinery at Corsicana. This re- finery was the first oil refinery built west of the Mississippi River, and was an outstanding factor in the oil development in Texas.

The local men interested in the Corsicana fields, later sold their interests to the company whose properties were later secured by the Magnolia Petroleum Company. The Magnolia and the Texas

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 14

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416