The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 34
566 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Company." Gillham's plans originally called for eight slips 1,ooo
feet by 250 feet, a large transfer pier, a turning basin 500 feet wide,
and a dry dock.0 Not all of these projects were necessary or feasible
as long as the canal remained unfinished and the lighterage system
in use.
The Kountze Brothers remained determined to prevent Stilwell
from building the canal and establishing Port Arthur. They real-
ized that if Stilwell's plans were brought to fruition, their land
holdings and urban scheme would be virtually valueless. Therefore,
in February, 1898, they appealed to Secretary of War Russel Alger
to order the dredges stopped on the grounds that silt from Taylor's
Bayou would flow through the canal and be deposited in Sabine Pass.
The secretary ordered the work stopped until evidence was presented
that the charges were untrue. J. McD. Trimble, president of the Port
Arthur Channel and Dock Company, declared that Gillham's plans
would prevent the silting of the Pass and that, after all, if such silting
did occur, Port Arthur would suffer also. When Secretary Alger agreed
to allow further excavation as long as revetments in Sabine Lake
prevented excavated materials from entering the lake, the Kountzes
protested again. This time they charged that the Channel Company
was acting illegally, that their work was not inspected, and that the
Channel Company was interested only in tolls on the canal."'
Alger asked the Corps of Engineers to ascertain the effect of the
silting, and the Corps, using their own testing devices and information
collected by Robert Gillham, declared that silting was minimal. The
chief engineer advised Alger that the Channel Company should be
allowed to proceed." Seeing that the secretary was about to remove
his injunction, the Kountzes shifted the fight to the halls of Congress.
From the inception of Stilwell's plan, various congressmen and
congressional committees had taken an interest in the project. During
the previous year some members of the House Rivers and Harbors
9"Interstate Commerce Commission, "The Kansas City Southern Railway Company
et al.," 435-442; Port Arthur Herald, July 15, 22, August 5, October 7, 1897, February
10, 1898; "Plan Showing Docks and Slips at Port Arthur, Texas," map 9, March, 1898, in
"Ship Canal at Sabine Pass, Texas," following p. 34.
"Engineering News, XXXIX (February 17, 1898), 119-12o.
61Trimble to G. D. Meiklejohn, February 21, 1898, in "Ship Canal at Sabine Pass, Texas,"
21-22; Order from Secretary of War, R. A. Alger, March 12, 1898, ibid., 26; B. D. Crary to
Alger, March 24, 1898, ibid., 35-41.
"5Henry M. Robert to John M. Wilson, June 8, 1898, in "Ship Canal at Sabine Pass,
Texas," 41-42; Wilson to Alger, June 18, 1898, ibid., 4-7; Works Progress Administration,
Port Arthur, 45.
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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/m1/46/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.