Page:Houston, Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea.djvu/8

 JEROME H. FARBAR

he City of Houston was one of the first products of the new Republic of Texas. Founded by the Allen family and General Sam Houston after the defeat of the Mexicans at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, and named in honor of the illustrious Texan who won Texas' independence, the new town was destined to be the chief city in the new Republic and today it maintains the same position as the chief city of the State of Texas, with a population of 125,000 or more persons.

When Mexico was forced to relinquish claims to Texas in 1836 the victorious Texans threw off the mantle of warfare to face a much more stupendous task—that of governing a great undeveloped empire, twice the size of Japan and 825 miles in length from north to south and 740 miles wide from east to west.

Establishment of the chief city or capital was the first task, and it was decided to place it at a point easy of access by water, which was then the chief method of transportation, with the exception of overland, yet far enough inland from the coast to be safe from tropical and gulf storms.

That point was determined at the headwaters of Buffalo Bayou, fifty miles inland. It was proposed to found the town on land owned by the Harris family, but a disagreement with the Allen family on land matters forced the Allens to desert the Harrisburg town project and come three miles farther up the bayou, where they founded Houston. Today the town of Harrisburg is but little larger, if any larger, than when founded, and now is a suburb of the City of Houston.

So Houston was founded. The wisdom of its forefathers in laying out the city on a navigable stream has proved the greatest factor in the upbuilding of Houston. Long since the old name of Buffalo Bayou has given away to the more distinctive name of "Houston Ship Channel," and the old bayou, still an arm of the sea, has been deepened to a depth of 25 feet and widened to 200 feet at the bottom, and the ships of ocean commerce are entering the land-locked port of Houston over its placid waters.

The Ship Channel is Houston's greatest commercial asset. It has given Houston the water rate, while traffic cover its waters amounts to over $55,000,000 annually. Houston is a port of entry and a customs house is maintained. The improvement of the channel to a depth of twenty-five feet has just been made under an appropriation of $2,500,000, the work being directed by United States engineers. The City of Houston, by agreement with the government, forever guarantees to maintain free wharf facilities, so no commerce over the wharves of Houston will be subject to tax.

Houston is the railroad center of the Southwest, seventeen railroads entering the city and making their terminus. Over one hundred passenger trains operate