Port Arthur High School - Sea Gull Yearbook (Port Arthur, TX)

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PORT ARTHUR The entire coast line of the United States is dotted with dozens, if not hundreds, of locations which, at one time or another, have been selected by ambitions and en thusiastic promoters us being the proper sites for new ports which, in the dreams of their promoters, were destined to rival and perhaps eclipse the older and already established shipping cities nf the country. Every coastal state, has its record of futile efforts at building new harbors. Very few states have any record of successful efforts at building new harbors within recent years. Without doubt the one great vxreption to this almost universal rule is the PORT of Port Arthur, Texas. This seaport was originally projected just as other promotion ports have been planned. I'nlike others of this nature, however, it has Succeeded in drawing to itself a volume of shipping and manufacturing which. plates it high among the ports of the entire Ameriean nation, in point of actual volume of commodities exported. In tons of exports. Port Arthur is now far ahead of Galveston. and practically equal with New Orleans. whieh two ports contend for the honor of being designated the second greatest port in the I'nited States. Port Arthur was founded twentnyive years ago. when Arthur E. StilwelL pro- moter and first president .ot' the Kansas City Southern Railway, huilt a railway due south from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico and found that Sabine Pass and its adjacent waters fm'med what must he the deop-wnter terminus of his rnad, In theory the Stilwell idea was goodithnt u suecossful railroad should he possible it built to connect a great freight originating paint like Kansas Fity with the nearest point mi deep Water. The Stiiwell idea. however. met many nhstncles when mi effort was made to secure and establish :h terminal site. The deer water of the Gulf of Mexim at that time did not extend inland more than two or three miles, up to the town of Sabine Pass and forms a channel from Sabine Lake to the Cult The owners of the land at and around the town of Suhiue Pass were unwilling to sell their property on terms which the Stilwell companies felt justified in accepting, and Mr. Stilweii. thereupon reversed the ancient fable regarding Mohnmot, and. us he could nnt take his town to deep water. he hrnnght deep water to his tnwn. A site was selected on the western shore of Lake Sabine. whioh is a shallow hotly of water about eight by thirty mile. and which is cmmeeted with the Gulf by the channel known as Swhhve Pass, about five miles in length. The site selected for Stilwell's town. whiPh he nemed in honor of himeolf. Port Arthur. was twelve miles inland from the Gulf. and at that time nine miles distant from the head of deen water in thine Pass. A site for n harhm' was selected nt n point where :1 small stream. known as Taylnr's hnyou. em- ptied into Lake Sai'ii'o. and u start was made dredging a ship Penal directly nerosh the lower rnd of the lake. from the month of Taylor's bayou t0 the head of deep water in Sabine Pass, INLAND CANAL T0 SABINE PASS Owners of property nt Sabine Pass ohjeeted tn thus losing the southern ter minus of the K. t'. S. Railway. and cummeuoed a vigorous uttaek in un effort In prevent dredging through the hike. An order was finally secured forhidding the furthel exf'avutimi of the mum in Lake Snlline. 21nd Stilwell was forced to turn from the lake to a route inside the $110113 0f the lake Here a strip of land was purchased and 1110 canal excavated. all inland. frnm the mouth of Taylor's bayou to the head of deep water in Sahine Pass. All this occupied two or thretI years' time .nml the canal was not completed to n twenty-five-foot depth until 1899. In the meantime, the finances of the K C. S. Railway had become involved, and a receivership and voting trust for the road resulted in ousting the Stilwoll regime and in killing off the enthusnsm of the railway management 21!, that time for - MWI 3: IWIIIIIIIIIIII 3m: :Imml 3: E E E3: Imgmmmrl Elwmig

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WM 3 , 7x2: 2 2 lmnllmmggummmm Kai .2 ....THE STAFF... EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Elbert Lamson ASSOCIATE EDITORS Desmond Secrest Gustavo Jiminez BUSINESS MANAGER Irving Goldberg ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGERS Margaret Kramer Steve Vaught ATHLETIC EDITOR Oliver Latham SOCIETY EDITOR Pauline Barrett ART EDITOR Clarice Akin ASSISTANT ART EDITORS Edwin Axtel Lawrence Vidrine CIRCULATION MANAGER George Rice I ' . ' v- : memmm?;IIHIIIIIIWHIIW5?:WIIHIININIIILEE;IIlIIIIIIIlIIIIIHI$1E EwwgmmmmmammmwEa: wnumnurziiimumuummnI1 ; .1

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M mlmluumnul gmgw L 2 2 IiIIIIIWIIIIII i IIMIMHNIIIIEillllllllllllll gilmwmmI rim :2 developing a port at Port Ai'thurt Au export business had been commenced under considerable handicap, due to lack of harbor fac ties at first and later due to the managerial situation in the railway company. A pier was built in Luke Sabine, out to a six-foot Water depth, and cargoes were lightered from this pier t0 Yt'ssels lying in the stream at Sabine Pass, and there loaded. This commerce began in 1597, and for that year showed 11 little Over 87,000 tons of commodities. The following year a total of 238,000 tons was moved, and in 1899 a total of 327,000 tons. The next three years showed a steady recession from the 1899 total. and in 1901 the exports of the port had dropped to, 150,000 tons. L; L71 2:: L;A In the year 1901, however, the first of the numerous great Texas oil fields was discovered at Spindle Top, twenty miles from Port Arthur. The vxplm'utiun and re- fining companies Which at once interested themselves in the oil fields :111 made USO of Port Arthur as a shipping point for water movement of crude oil. and, later. of refined oil as well, and the tonnage figures of the port commeneed to mount rapidly With the year 1902, when the total showed 690,000 tons, a gain of 300 per mm over 1901. The next year the total had leaped t0 twide the preceding ,w-nris total, and tueio has been a steady and consistent gain yearly ever sine, until Port Arthur's 1920 mmmorce showed a total of over 8,000,000 tons of commuditit-s moved by water. ! I??? r H .94 g; ? The growth of the port's export shipping has been lly i'Qf'f'ltiPd in the 0X- pansinn of the oil refining industry at this place. The first refining plant erected was an experimental still of 300 Imrl'els cnpucty, built in the summer of 1901 by the Gulf Refining Company at the entrance of What now is the largest uii refining plant in the world, and with h daily output of close to 100.000 barrels of refined products. The Texas Company refinery has also grown tremendously. and its daily production is far in excess of 70,000 barrels of refined oili V A m 9 $111 7 L '1 El g LT: $7 r 7.;' The City has been handicapped to some extent in ith'uctiuu new industries and enterprises by laek of a sufficient and dependable supplv 0f fresh water. To remedy this the city and some surrounding territory recently voted bowls in the sum of two million ribihu-s, which will he expended in installing :1 supply .s tem to bring water from the Sahire river, from 11 point fifty miles distant from Port Arthur und entirely removed from all tidal influence or contamination. The reeem mustructia-n of tho Sahine-Neches canal, along the shore of Luke Sahini .n frunt of Port Arthur, has given tn the city a practivally unlimited water fi'ontnzn 0n n twentyefive-foot depth, Much of ilis land is controlled by the Port Arthur eity goverlnnent. hut there are large lmkl'ngs nhove the eity which are available fur shipping and industrial uses, and which z-rc now attracting the favorable utteutinn 0f enterpi s planning exten- sion nf munuiucturng activities, IE Ah Eli i2 unw- EIm h A 7; L3 '2 I7 IE 33- 74 FA In z-dditinn to the huge ti'nffice handled through Pm-t Arthur proper, this 1301': Is the port If entry of the customs district of Sabine :mvl handles the export oom- meme 01 the ports of Beaumont, Sabine. Orange, Pm't hm'hvs and Sabine Pass. The commerce of these suh-pol'ts combined With the mmmtru- of Port Arthur proper, shows a intnl of over ten million tons yearly. m 2;! K? The 1,1-uzi'rss 0f the city is pi'ohabiy imlicat-il us convincingly by the census figures as by emy other gauge. In 1896 there was; no sltvh plnee as Port Arthur. In 1900, the population was 700; in 1910 it had become 7,003. In 1710 the U. S. Census Bureau compilation showed a population of 22.251, and the same binu-uu. on January 1, 1921, made an official estimate that the city's population had grown to 2.15:3. E g ; r1 E Inquiries regarding the Pity. its development and pas; tilities should be ad- dressed to the Port Arthur Chamher of Commerce and Shipping, Port Arthur, Texas, ?1 75V A LEROY G. STUMP, Secretary Chamber of Commm'cv and Shipping. H VA A 2L l: j l: :1 C :l E :1 HIIIIHWIIHIII mmmnmn, a numlmmnmEmuuuwm gt. l wulmmrmmEimmuuuluun :23: IIumIIIIIIIunr' ummmmn .