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Dredge material is pumped into the island during the grade raising after the 1900 hurricane. Residents endured years of pumps, sludge, canals, stench and miles of catwalks during the project. Photo courtesy of Rosenberg Library.
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Posted on 09/16/2005 5:22:09 PM PDT by D-fendr
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Dredge material is pumped into the island during the grade raising after the 1900 hurricane. Residents endured years of pumps, sludge, canals, stench and miles of catwalks during the project. Photo courtesy of Rosenberg Library.
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GALVESTON - The great storm that came roaring out of the Gulf of Mexico 100 years ago, destroying this island city and assuring its place in history, deserves its due.
But the wind and water and death brought by the unnamed hurricane, even the acts of courage and sacrifice played out in its face, are only half the story.
For while the story that began Sept. 8, 1900, is one about the fate of people at the hands of nature, it's also one about people altering their own fates by changing the face of nature.
Storm and early aftermath
Historians contend that between 10,000 and 12,000 people died during the storm, at least 6,000 of them on Galveston Island. More than 3,600 homes were destroyed on Galveston Island and the added toll on commercial structures created a monetary loss of $30 million, about $700 million in today's dollars.
The Great Storm reigns today as the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But while the storm was phenomenal, so was the response of the people who survived it.
"Sunday morning, the day after the disaster, began with the sound of bells from the ruined Ursuline Convent calling people to worship," wrote historian David G. McComb in "Galveston: A History."
It was a fitting beginning.
Despite the unimaginable devastation and what must have been a hard realization that it could happen again, the city immediately began pulling itself out of the mud.
By 10 a.m. Sept. 9, Mayor Walter C. Jones had called emergency city council meetings and by the end of the day had appointed a Central Relief Committee…
In the first week after the storm, according to McComb's book, telegraph and water service were restored. Lines for a new telephone system were being laid by the second.
"In the third week, Houston relief groups went home, the saloons reopened, the electric trolleys began operating and freight began moving through the harbor," McComb wrote.
Residents of Galveston quickly decided that they would rebuild, that the city would survive, and almost as soon, leaders began deciding how it would do so.
The two civil engineering projects leaders decided to pursue - building a seawall and raising the island's elevation - stand today and are almost as great in their scope and effect as the storm itself.
Raising the grade
… The feat of raising an entire city began with three engineers hired by the city in 1901 to design a means of keeping the gulf in its place.
Along with building a seawall, Alfred Noble, Henry M. Robert and H.C. Ripley recommended the city be raised 17 feet at the seawall and sloped downward at a pitch of one foot for every 1,500 feet to the bay.
The first task required to translate their vision into a working system was a means of getting more than 16 million cubic yards of sand - enough to fill more than a million dump trucks - to the island, according to McComb.
The solution was to dredge the sand from Galveston's ship channel and pump it as liquid slurry through pipes into quarter-square-mile sections of the city that were walled off with dikes.
Their theory was that as the water drained away the sand would remain.
Before the pumping could begin, all the structures in the area had to be raised with jackscrews. Meanwhile, all the sewer, water and gas lines had to be raised…
The city paid to move the utilities and for the actual grade raising, but each homeowner had to pay to have the house raised.
By 1911, McComb wrote, 500 city blocks had been raised, some by just a few inches and others by as much as 11 feet.
The Seawall
The most apparent of Galveston's efforts to prevent a repeat of 1900's devastation is the seawall, which today runs from just past Boddeker Drive on the east end to just past Cove View Boulevard on the west.
The current span of just more than 10 miles was built in six sections in a period of almost 60 years, said County Engineer Mike Fitzgerald.
The oldest part of the seawall still visible runs from Sixth street to 39th street and was built between 1902 and 1904, he said.
"The original seawall ran from Eighth Street at the Galveston Wharf front to Sixth Street and from Sixth to 39th," he said.
The next section, which runs from 39th Street to 53rd Street, was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect its property at Fort Crockett and was completed in 1905…
Fitzgerald, whose crews are charged with inspecting and maintaining parts of the wall, said he always was impressed with the engineering and construction of the wall.
"They did a great job," he said…
The cost of such protection was high, though.
McComb estimated that it cost about $16 million to build the seawall and raise the grade.
For comparison, Fitzgerald said it would cost $10 million a mile to build the seawall in today's dollars - or more than $100 million total.
While Galveston received financial help from the county, state and federal governments, a large portion of the burden had to be carried by the city itself, at the expense of other projects.
McComb sums it up about as well as it can be:
"Human technology made it possible - for the city of Galveston to remain on such unstable land. The city did not flourish. Houston - left the island city far behind. Galveston simply survived.
"The public defenses against nature came at a high cost, but they succeeded for the most part. Its struggle for survival against nature through the application of technology represents the strongest tradition of Western civilization. Galveston's response to the great storm was its finest hour."
Back in '82 I was surfing the seawall during a storm and lost a 'Rand and the chain it was on from around my neck, if by chance any of you have found it I would like it back........
Others cities on unstable ground come to mind like Boston, D.C., and Miami (well, Florida in general). Aren't they also built on swamp or below sea level?
Oh! And Charleston.
I'll keep an eye out. Don't have to tell you that's not smart surf wear, but then I've had a few Spicoli moments myself...
I first visited there in the late 1950's and was not too favorably impressed.
Things started to change in the mid-1970's and it was all positive.
I've fished the Galveston Bay systems for twenty-five years. From Boliver to San Luis Pass, I've enjoyed some incredible fishing over the years.
Although Galveston does not have the white sandy beaches of Northern Florida with that stunning emerald water, one must remember that the prettiest women in the World come from Southeast Texas!
There are more detailed maps here.
I didn't realize how much area there was, thank you. Now, should we hear a demand that we protect these areas from future hurricanes, I would point again to Galveston and tell the cities, "please, go right ahead."
thanks for your post..
I think your exactly right, the late 50s was a low point for Gal.
They shut down the casinos/clubs so that "charm" and attraction - not to mention commerce - was gone.
The restoration and tourist attraction efforts started later did wonders. The architecture is unique.
I wish they hadn't destroyed the old Fire Station and the downtown mall is a disaster, but overall the city is much improved.
thanks for your post...
and courage and self-sufficiency. Exactly. What made me post this article was watching the BBC broadcast of a N.O. evacuee complaining that "2,000 doesn't go far and she needs a lot more" plus somebody needs to give me a place to live and yada, yada, yada...
I feel for their loss, but their attitude... And it's not helping them either. New Orleans has an excellent opportunity to learn and grow from their suffering, but they will be denied it, I fear.
My great grandfather and my grandfather helped build that section. They were from Butler (about 50 miles south of KC) Missouri. Both were brick layers and stone cutters.
Sure seems that one sometimes. One thing for certain: If the moochers from N.O. that made it to Texas try to stay in Texas, they will be highly encouraged to take responsibility for themselves.
Incredible. Have you ever been to Galveston to see it?
Nope, not yet. Hope to some day. Bought a very old postcard of it on ebay but it doesn't show much detail.
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