the last year of the nineteenth century witnessed in texas a calamity which wrapped the state in gloom and stirred the entire country to instant and generous sympathy. this was the great flood at galveston.
earlier in the same year (april 7) the city of austin had suffered a severe loss through water. the wonderful barrier of granite—the largest dam in the world—which imprisoned the waters of the colorado river between the wooded hills on either side, thus forming an artificial lake thirty miles long, had suddenly given way; the mighty torrent set free had poured through the gap, carrying ruin with it and leaving havoc behind.
in august, 1899, there had been a flood of unusual magnitude in the brazos river. an angry sea had swirled down from the red lands above; the long and fertile valley of the brazos was laid waste; several lives were lost, and much valuable property was destroyed. but these floods were dwarfed in importance by the tidal wave from the sea which on september 8 and 9, 1900, beat against the gulf coast and fell with special violence upon the island of galveston.
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a blinding storm of rain fell ceaselessly throughout the whole of the first day; a furious wind drove the salt spray across the island from gulf to bay. by nightfall the streets were submerged; the lower floors of many dwellings were under water. during the night of horror which followed, the railroad bridge connecting the island with the mainland was swept away, and the city lay isolated and helpless at the mercy of the hurricane. as the hours passed the people huddled together in their rocking houses, climbed to the upper stories and out upon the roofs, with the savage flood climbing after them. thousands were swept to death from these insecure places of refuge. whole blocks of buildings crumbled like so many sand houses into the waters; the foamy waves were strewn with a mass of wreckage: shingles, beams, furniture, household goods, animals dead and dying, human beings battling for their lives in the darkness or drifting stark and stiff with the storm.
many stories of heroism, of self-sacrifice, of pathetic devotion, are told of that awful night; many strange incidents are related. strong men perished, while frail and delicate women survived unhurt; skilled swimmers succumbed; helpless babes floated to safety. one little child, torn from its mother’s arms by the gale, drifted through the débris, across the island, across the bay, and was found the next day, quite unharmed, nested like a bird in the limbs of an oak tree on the mainland!
when the morning dawned, pale and wan, a ghastly spectacle met the dazed eyes of the survivors. the waters, receding sullenly, exposed masses of ruins; thousands of corpses strewed the uneven sands; not a sound from the outer world penetrated the dismal silence. there was a single moment of paralyzed despair; then, with a splendid courage, almost without parallel, the stricken people took heart and set life in motion again for themselves and for their beloved city. help poured in from every direction: money, provisions, clothing, doctors, nurses; best of all, words of sympathy and cheer, which lightened the task. in an incredibly short time almost all traces of the great flood had disappeared, and the lovely island lay serene and smiling, as before, on the bosom of the gulf. it is believed that from six thousand to seven thousand people perished in the storm.
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in september, 1901, a sea wall, planned for the protection of the island against such storms, was begun; this enclosing wall, which is to cost one and a half million dollars, will be when finished sixteen feet broad at the base, sixteen feet high, and five feet in breadth at the top.
the dawn of the twentieth century was marked by the discovery of petroleum in vast quantities in southeast texas. in the earliest days of lone star history, certain of the incurving bays west of the sabine river were known as the oil ponds, because they offered upon their smooth surface a secure refuge from the stormy gulf outside to all manner of sailing craft. the meaning of their strange quiet was undreamed of until the first well on spindletop heights near beaumont shot its geyser of oil hundreds of feet in the air. the oil wells at beaumont and elsewhere now number many scores; their rich output seems inexhaustible.
long-continued droughts and the appearance of the boll weevil, an insect very destructive to the growing cotton, marred the splendor of this opening year. vigorous measures have been taken to exterminate the boll weevil, and despite all drawbacks the crops of cotton, corn, and rice have steadily increased in size and in value.
in 1903 s. w. t. lanham was inaugurated governor.
