Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

telephone service, and grain elevators. Citizens
expressed pride in the luxury of Hotel Sabine.
The Herald’s editor said, “The hotel ranks among
the best in the South, and its reputation is well
devised...In the main building, which is three
stories high, there are thirty sleeping rooms
and a large parlor. The annex contains forty
sleeping rooms.”
With the latest and they hoped the last
injunction obtained by the Kountze brothers
lifted, work resumed on the canal in January
1899. By February, with the work
approximately half completed, the Kountze
brothers sought the assistance of Secretary of
War Russell G. Alger, who had authority over
the Corps of Engineers. The Kountzes claimed
this time that silt from Taylor Bayou, not the
rivers, would harm their interests. The
canal company’s engineer, Robert Gillham,
claimed that a hundred years would pass before
even a foot of silt could collect in the Pass,
so while awaiting word from Alger, the dock
company went back to work on the canal—
from both ends to hasten its completion—
anticipated by March 10. The day before,
as townsite manager George Craig watched
the opposing dredges draw near each other
from Hotel Sabine, he learned of the approach
of a boat bearing Charles Quinn, engineer
in charge of Sabine Pass, to halt the work
once more.
Craig waited for Quinn while Gillham raced
to the work site to urge haste on the workers,
sweetening the plea with an offer of a $100
bonus if they completed the canal on time.
Meantime, Craig entertained Quinn at the hotel,
and when the engineer finally mentioned the
desist order, Craig declined responsibility,
suggesting that he deliver the order directly to
the dredge operation. The delay proved
sufficient for the completion of the canal, which
officially opened on March 25, 1899. The first
ocean vessel, the British ship St. Oswald,
steamed up the canal to Port Arthur’s grain
elevator in August and loaded grain, flour,
barrel staves, and planed lumber consigned
to Rotterdam.
NEW SETTLEMENT AND
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT
With Port Arthur properly launched and its
seaport status secured by the new canal to
Sabine Pass, Stilwell turned to additional
development to support the operation of the
Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad.
❖
A map of Port Arthur, 1897.
COURTESY OF THE CITY OF PORT ARTHUR
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
Chapter II ✦ 19