and Cummings Cut. A railroad drawbridge with an opening 24 feet wide crosses the bayou near the middle. The town of Aransas Pass is situated on the mainland about 2 miles westward of the middle of Corpus Christi Bayou and 6 miles northwestward of Port Aransas, with both of which it is connected by a privately dredged canal across Harbor Island paralleling the railroad. The canal has a depth of 3 feet (0.9 m.) (1925) from the landings southeastward of the town to Corpus Christi Bayou; thence it has a depth of 4 feet (1.2 m.) to Port Aransas. Aransas Pass has railway communication with the interior of the State. Corpus Christi Bay is a large body of water lying westward of Aransas Pass, and conne: ted therewith by Corpus Christi Channel. The general depths in the bay are 8 to 14 feet (2.4 to 4.3 m.). Portland is a resort village and post office on the north shore of the bay. Ingleside, on Ingleside Cove, is a small fishing village. A draft of 3 feet (0.9 m.) can be carried to the landings here. Corpus Christi Channel extends from Aransas Pass, through Turtle Cove, to the shore line at Corpus Christi. The project provides for a channel 25 feet (7.6 m.) deep, and 200 feet wide with widened places for passing. The city of Corpus Christi is constructing a turning basin 25 feet (7.6 m.) deep, 1,200 feet wide, and 3,000 feet long, with a channel 25 feet (7.6 m.) deep and 200 feet wide connecting this basin with Corpus Christi Channel. A drawbridge with a clear width of 90 feet crosses the channel at the entrance to the turning basin. Work on the above channel and basin was begun in 1924. The present (1925) controlling depth from Aransas Pass to Corpus Christi Bay is 6 feet (1.8 m.). Corpus Christi, on the western side of the bay, 18 miles from Aransas Pass, is the most important city commercially on the coast of Texas southwestward of Galveston. It has considerable coastwise traffic in cotton, cottonseed products, and general merchandise. A channel 100 feet wide and 6 feet (1.8 m.) deep has been dredged from deep water in the bay to a dredged turning basin, 1,000 feet square, off the wharves. The wharves are exposed to winds from easterly to southerly directions, that blow quite regularly with considerable violence, and make a short, choppy sea at the docks, which is uncomfortable for small craft. A breakwater has been constructed which partially protects the wharves and protects the anchorage northeastward of the wharves. A fixed red light on a red beacon marks the channel leading to the basin. A fixed red light on the northerly side of the north opening in the breakwater marks this approach to the anchorage. When the Corpus Christi Channel and Basin are completed the city of Corpus Christi will be a port for ocean-going vessels. The old breakwater is being extended northward to protect the entrance to the new turning basin. Terminal facilities.-At Corpus Christi there is one municipal wharf about 1,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, built by the city of Corpus Christi. It is an earth fill between concrete bulkheads, with: a wooden apron on piles at its outer end. It is open to the public, only sufficient charge being made to cover its maintenance. "There is also a wooden pier, 16 feet wide, 1,150 feet long, with a pierhead, 40 feet by 40 feet, which is owned by the city of Corpus Christi, and is open to the public on equal terms, and several small wharves or piers, privately owned by the fish companies and not open to the public. The Texas-Mexican Railway owns and operates a railway trestle extending into Corpus Christi Bay, its use being confined to oil cargoes. Modern terminal facilities are being constructed at the new turning basin north of the city to accommodate seven ocean-going vessels, with ample provision for future expansion. Nueces Bay is a tributary of Corpus Christi Bay, partially separated from it by sand spits and a railway bridge. The bridge has a draw span with an opening 32 feet wide near its southwesterly end. Nueces Bay has depths of only 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 m.) and is of but little importance. Nueces River, emptying into the western part of Nueces Bay, is navigable for boats for a distance of 9 miles to a dam. The river is of no commercial importance. Prominent features. In approaching Aransas Pass in daytime the first object sighted is a water tower 145 feet (44 m.) high located on Harbor Island opposite the inner end of the pass. Smoke from the dredges used in improvement of the pass may also be seen. The lighthouse and buildings at Port Aransas will be sighted as the pass is approached. Pilots for Aransas Pass are stationed at Port Aransas and will come out to vessels making signal off the bar. Pilotage is compulsory for all vessels of over 20 tons except certain vessels licensed for the coasting trade in the State of Texas. The rate for pilotage is $4 per foot of draft each way. (See the extracts from the laws of Texas relative to pilotage on p. 4.) Towboats.-There are no towboats stationed here at present. Anchorage.-Harbor Island Basin has filled up and affords anchorage only for vessels of less than 10 feet (3.0 m.) draft. Deep draft vessels anchor in the Gulf eastward of the jetties wherever the depth is suitable and lighter their cargoes. Quarantine.-The quarantine station is located at Corpus Christi. Vessels subject to visitation are boarded between sunrise and sunset at any point 656 feet (200 m.) from the shore line in the vicinity of the pass. Vessels that do not enter the harbor but lighter their cargoes are boarded at the anchorage outside the jetties. Hospital.-Relief is furnished at Aransas Pass and Corpus Christi as provided in the United States Public Health Service regulations for stations of Class III. The nearest marine hospital is at New Orleans. A customs officer is stationed at Corpus Christi. Supplies.-Fresh water and fuel oil may be had at the railroad wharf on Harbor Island. Coal in limited quantities, brought by rail from the town of Aransas Pass, may be obtained at the railroad wharf. Fresh water and gasoline for small craft, as well as small quantities of provisions, may be had at Port Aransas. All kinds of supplies may be obtained at Corpus Christi. Repairs. The nearest facilities for dry-docking large vessels are located at Galveston. Small craft of less than 65 feet length can be hauled out at the shipyards at Hog Island, north of the drawbridge over Corpus Christi Bayou, and at Turtle Bayou, southward of Rockport. Vessels up to 6 feet draft can be hauled out at Port Aransas and at Corpus Christi. There is a machine shop at Corpus Christi. Storm warnings are displayed at Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, and Corpus Christi. A Coast Guard station is located at Port Aransas, inside the pass. Winds from any easterly direction make a rough bar and raise the water inside as much as 2 feet above the normal; winds from any westerly direction have an opposite tendency. A sudden shift of wind from south to north makes an especially rough bar for a short time. The currents in the pass have considerable velocity at times and are greatly influenced by the winds. Just inside the end of the jetties the current sets close to the north jetty. Slack water before flood occurs about 2 hours after low water and slack water before ebb 2 hours after high water at Galveston; this time, however, is affected considerably by winds. The chart and the aids are the guides. CORPUS CHRISTI PASS, 17 miles southwestward of Aransas Pass, is an unmarked and seldom used entrance for small craft from the Gulf to the southerly part of Corpus Christi Bay. It has variable depths of 3 to 6 feet (0.9 to 1.8 m.) on the bar at the entrance, but only about 12 feet (0.5 m.) at the head of the pass. Sometimes the pass is entirely closed. Laguna Madre is a shallow unsurveyed body of water, scarcely more than a few inches deep in places, extending southward from Corpus Christi Bay for a distance of 100 miles, and separated from the Gulf by only a low and barren storm-swept strip of sand beach, known as Padre Island. A few small streams are tributary to it, but neither they nor the laguna are of any commercial importance. BRAZOS SANTIAGO is a narrow pass from the gulf to the lower end of Laguna Madre, at the south end of Padre Island and between that island and Brazos Island. It lies 236 miles south-southwestward of Galveston entrance, 106 miles southward of Aransas Pass, and 7 miles northward of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and is of importance only as the approach to the town of Point Isabel, 21⁄2 miles distant, on the mainland opposite the pass. The entrance is obstructed by a bar of quicksand extending a little over one-half mile into the Gulf, and having about 62 feet (2.0 m.) of water over it. The project provides for a channel 18 feet (5.5 m.) deep and 400 feet wide across the bar. Local interests are required to contribute sufficient funds to maintain a channel 16 feet (4.9 m.) deep and 100 feet wide from Brazos Santiago to the wharf at Point Isabel, with a turning basin 16 feet (4.9 m.) deep and 500 feet square at the wharf. On June 30, 1924, the controlling depth across the bar was 912 feet (2.8 m.) for a width of 200 feet, and 42 feet (1.4 m.) deep in the channel leading to Point Isabel. It is understood that this project will be redredged in 1925. Brazos Santiago (Padre Island) Lighthouse is a white hexagonal house with dark roof and trimmings on a brown skeleton screw-pile foundation. The light is fixed white, 60 feet (18.3 m.) above the water, and visible 12 miles. Point Isabel, 211⁄2 miles westward of the entrance, is a fishing village and post office. It is afforded communication with Brownsville by a narrow-gauge railroad. Fishermen's supplies in limited quantities can be obtained here. A United States Navy radio station was constructed here but is not in operation. The towers remain and make good landmarks. There are facilities for hauling out fishing launches but no machine repairs can be made. Terminal facilities consist only of the railroad wharf, 1,400 feet long at Point Isabel. This wharf carries a narrow gauge railroad track, which extends to Brownsville. Future activities contemplate changing this track to standard gauge. There are no freight handling facilities on this wharf. It is understood to be open to all on equal terms. Prominent features. In approaching Brazos Santiago on a clear day the old unused lighthouse, a white conical brick tower at Point Isabel, is the first object sighted, followed soon by Brazos Santiago Lighthouse and the quarantine station inside the entrance on the north side, and the Coast Guard station on the south side. A few miles northward of the entrance a succession of large sand hills 20 to 25 feet (6 to 7.6 m.) high, known as The Tanks, are distinctive marks for this stretch of the coast. Directly off the entrance the bottom is soft and affords fair anchorage with good holding ground; farther north and south the bottom is harder. Storm warnings are displayed at the Coast Guard station. There is no health officer regularly in attendance at the quarantine station. A Public Health surgeon is stationed at Brownsville. The keeper of the Coast Guard station acts as the customs officer. Vessels should not attempt to cross the bar except when there is no sea or swell. If practicable to enter, the keeper of the Coast Guard station will come out on signal and assist vessels in entering. Boca Chica, at the south end of Brazos Island and 4 miles southward of Brazos Santiago, is an entrance from the Gulf to Laguna Madre. It has a depth of 12 to 3 feet (0.5 to 0.9 m.) at the entrance but only a few inches inside, and is seldom used. THE RIO GRANDE which for about 1,000 miles of its length forms the boundary between the United States and Mexico, empties into the Gulf 7 miles southward of Brazos Santiago. The entrance is obstructed by a bar having a depth of 4 feet (1.2 m.) over it, in a channel subject to frequent change. Inside the entrance there are depths of 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 m.); 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m.) can be carried to Brownsville, on the American side, and Matamoros, on the Mexican side, a distance of 55 miles by river, but only 20 miles by air line. Lightdraft steamers have ascended the river as far as Rio Grande City, 200 miles above the mouth, and this is considered about the head of navigation. Strangers desiring to enter the river from the Gulf should obtain local assistance. The keeper of the Coast Guard station at Brazos Santiago and fishermen in the vicinity have knowledge of the entrance. In 1925 the best water paralleled the Mexican shore for one-half mile or more below the mouth. INSIDE ROUTE, GALVESTON TO CORPUS CHRISTI A draft of 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m.) can be taken through the inland waterway system of the coast of Texas from Galveston to Corpus Christi, a distance of 175 miles. The route lies behind a series of long and narrow, low sand islands and peninsulas, which separate from the Gulf of Mexico a chain of shallow bays or lagoons, connected one with another by Government canals, dredged where necessary to a depth of 5 feet (1.5 m.) in a channel width of about 40 feet. The dredged portions, especially in some of the bays, are subject to gradual shoaling, and although an effort is continually made to maintain a depth of 5 feet (1.5 m.) throughout the system, it sometimes happens that the controlling depth is less than that for short sections of the route. Information as to the latest condition of the shoaler places can be obtained at the United States Engineer Office, Loan and Trust Building, Galveston. In the bays the bottom is mostly soft mud or silt, except for occasional reefs of oyster shell. Small craft are seldom damaged by grounding. Beacons with rectangular slatted day marks mark the channels. Even-numbered beacons are red and are left on the starboard hand, going south; odd-numbered beacons are black and are left on the port hand. Beacons at turns in the channels have a white board below the day mark. Many of the dredged channels are marked by range beacons. This inside route is described in detail in the Inside Route Pilot, Key West to the Rio Grande. The route, distances, and controlling depths in 1925 are given in the following table: |