The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 27
566 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Arthur E. Stilwell and the Founding of Port Arthur
publicly at the director's meeting any reason for this sudden change
of heart for fear that it should shock their credulity."" Only a few
of his closest friends were told of the "hunch." While this version
of the decision is exciting, or at least imaginative, what actually tran-
spired was based on far more practical considerations.
In April, 1895, Stilwell, his engineer Robert Gillham, and Frank
Henderson, a townsite agent, went to the Gulf coast to visit Sabine
Pass. Unimpressed with the town, Stilwell became more disillusioned
when he discovered that the banking firm of Kountze Brothers owned
the townsite and 40,000 acres of land in and around the pass. When
Stilwell entered into negotiations with Luther Kountze for access
to the port facilities, problems arose. Stilwell claimed that Kountze
asked $1,000,00o for his holdings and offered to put $xoo,ooo in a
bank account in Stilwell's name if he would cause the K.C.P. & G.
to make the purchase. Stilwell refused. "I am not for sale," he said."
Another version of the story contends that the Kountze subsidiary
which owned the land at the pass, the Sabine Land and Improve-
ment Company, offered to give the K.C.P. & G. land for terminals,
docks, elevators, and other facilities, but that Stilwell demanded a
division of the profits on all property sales in the area. Highly fa-
vorable to the Kountzes, this report claimed that Sabine Pass was
a splendid port, and the "natural terminus" of the K.C.P. & G.8"
One of Stilwell's own publications later suggested that the promoter
had asked for 51 percent of the acreage of the Sabine Land Company
if he agreed to terminate the K.C.P. S& G, at the pass." It seems
highly implausible that Stilwell would build a railroad to a terminus
he did not control, and he left Sabine Pass determined to find a more
suitable, and more profitable site.
Before leaving the area, Stilwell and Gillham discovered an ex-
tensive prairie located along the western shore of Sabine Lake
and east of Taylor's Bayou, a small body of water connected to the
lake. Gillham became enthusiastic about the land on the lake
shore, having been concerned about the high tides at Sabine Pass.
Stilwell then made two significant moves: he dispatched Frank Hen-
derson to nearby Beaumont to enter into negotiations for purchase
of this property, and he ordered Gillham to begin engineering plans
29Ibid.
"8Stilwell, Cannibals of Finance, 62.
81Port Arthur Herald, December 3o, 1897.
"8The Kansas City Gateway, I (December, 19o2), 30.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/39/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.