November, 1937 Hoi~Sio~I PORT BOOK 1

VOL. XV NOVEMBER,1937 NO. 2

ILl -i- ml General American’s Houston, Texas, Terminal

GENERAL AMERICAN’S Houston Terminal is yours to use as your very own. Newly completed it is the finest public terminal in the Southwest. Modern, efficient facilities for any bulk liquid. At Houston, as at all other General American Terminals, you save through careful handling, minimum evaporation, lowest insurance rates. Direct pipe line connections from East Texas fields. Yon have all of the advantages of your own terminalmwith no investment on your part.

A DIVISION OF GENERAL AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION CORP., R A GOODHOPE, LA., WESTWEGO, LA., CORPUS CHRISTI AND HOUSTON, TEXAS, CARTERET, N. J. OFFICE: 135 SOUTH LASALLE STREET, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. November, 1937 HoI~sIo~I PORT BOOK 1

DRE D GI N GShip Channels . Harbors . Slips and Terminals. Filling. Reclamations. Drainage and Levee Building

Dredge "Duplex" Deepening Houston Ship Channel

The Sternberg Dredging Company with its large fleet of Hydraulic dredges, bucket, dragline, derrick, and cableway machines is equipped to handle any excavation problem. STERNBERG DREDGING COMPANY GALVESTON, TEXAS ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

SHIPSIDE WAREHOUSE PATRICK TRANSFER & STORAGE COMPANY

Operators ¯ HOUSTONDIVISION ¯ LONE STAR PACKAGECAR CO.

Specializing in General CommodityStorage and Handling

250,000 SQUARE FEET STORAGE SPACE FIREPROOF REINFORCED CONCRETE WAREHOUSE

EQUIPPED WITH AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER LOCATED AT SHIP SIDE

Floor Level 35 Feet Above Mean Low Tide Electric Conveyors Import and Export Leading To and From Ship’s Berth TRACKAGE CAPACITY 84 CARS Shipments Handled Free or Bonded Usual Handling Charges All Railroads serve our Shipside Warehouse through Apply the Port Terminal Railroad P. O. Box 1682 No Extra Cost Between Uptown Phone Preston 0111 Ships and Warehouse Phoneconnection to all ships berthed at Shipside Phone Wayside 3117 our dock 2 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937 BARBOUR TERMINALS 700Acres-26,000 Feet of DeepWater Frontage

LOCATEDAT THE

OFFERS EXCEPTIONAL ADVANTAGESFOR THE LOCATION OF OIL REFINERIES- OIL TERMINALS SHIPPING and WAREHOUSEORGANIZATIONS

(1) Its location is right at the head of the channel to the Bay, which (5) The property fronts on the Houston Ship Channel. navigable night and day, the channel being lighted all the way to the sea. The (6) Now, with the completion of the Intra-Coastal Canal System, the vast long, tortuous navigating to locations farther inland is saved. The sailing time transportation system of which Houston is the neck of the bottle, will soon be from Barbour Terminals to the open sea is only two and one-half to three hours. breaking even more foreign and domestic commerce records. The BARBOUR (2) The Texas & NewOrleans Railroad Company(Southern Pacific Lines) TERMINALS,because of its time-saving location, possesses a strategic advantage has rail facilities into the property. in relation to the Intra-Coastal transportation system tie-up, which will feed the Houston Ship Channel East and West. (3) The Port Houston Belt Line Railroad, which is in operation to within (7) The BARBOURTERMINALS has a frontage on San Jacinto Bay nine miles of the property, connects at Houstonwith eighteen trunk railroad lines. 14,000 feet, and an additional 12,000 feet of a dredged slip 350 feet in width, (4) Concrete highwaysserve the property from all points. with a turning basin 30 feet deep and 1,000 by 1,500 feet.

For m]ormation,aadress BARBOUR TERMINALS FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING ° ° HOUSTON, TEXAS November,19 3 7 H 0 u s t 0 n P 0 R T B o o K 3

ANDEPSON. OAY TON Cotton Merchants

HOUSTON MOBILE CHARLOTTE ATLANTA SAVANNAH GASTONIA NEW ORLEANS BOSTON GREENVILLE MEMPHIS PROVIDENCE DALLAS LOS ANGELES NEW BEDFORD

Anderson, Clayton & Co. (Egypt) ...... ALEXANDRIA Anderson, Clayton & Co. (India) ...... BOMBAY Anderson, Clayton & Co., S.A. (Mexico) ...... MEXICOCITY and TORREON Anderson, Clayton & Co., Ltda. (Brazil) ...... SAO PAULOand RECIFE Anderson, Clayton & Co., S.A. (Argentina) ...... BUENOSAIRES Anderson, Clayton & Co., S.A. (Peru) ...... LIMA Algodones, S. A. (Paraguay) ...... ASUNCION

Represented abroad by Austria ...... Dr. Ludwig Nettel ...... Vienna Belgium ...... Edmond Veesaert ...... Ghent Canada ...... Anderson, Clayton & Co ...... Montreal China ...... Anderson, Clayton & Co ...... Shanghai England ...... D. F. Pennefather & Co ...... Liverpool France ...... Anderson, Clayton & Co ...... Le Havre Germany ...... Clason, Burger & Co ...... Bremen Holland ...... Herbert Stroink ...... Enschede Italy ...... Lamar Fleming & Co ...... Milan Iapan ...... Anderson, Clayton & Co.’s Agency ...... Osaka Poland ...... G. A. Sebastian ...... Lodz Portugal ...... A. Algodoeira W. Stam ...... Oporto Spain ...... F. Muste Ballester ...... Barcelona Sweden ...... F. Corin & Co ...... Gothenburg Switzerland ...... Gysi & Co ...... Zurich

Correspondents ANDERSON, CLAYTON & FLEMING NEW YORK Members New York Cotton Exchange

D. F. PENNEFATHER & CO. LIVERPOOL MembersLiverpool Cotton Association 4 Houston PORT BOOK November,1937

¯ . . OFFICESAT . . ¯ ÷ Services by Direct Steamers to SAVANNAH, GEORGIA "STRACHAN LINE" BRUNSWICK~ GEORGIA UNITED KINGDOM CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA STRACHAN SHIPPING COMPANY JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA CONTINENTAL FERNANDINA, FLORIDA PENSACOLA, FLORIDA Steamship Agents and Ship Brokers MEDITERRANEAN MOBILE, ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA ADRIATIC MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE NEW ORLEANS~ LOUISIANA Cable Address: "STRACHAN" SOUTH AMERICANAND GALVESTON, TEXAS Codes: FAR EAST PORTS HOUSTON, TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS Bet’s, SCOTT~S~ W&TKINS’~BENTLEY’S, A. B. C. CHICAGO OFFICE NEW YORK OFFICE UTILITIES BUILDING WHITEHALL BUILDING HOUSTON, TEXAS 327 SOUTH LASALLE STREET 17 BATTERY PLACE ?

W. R. ZANES AND COMPANY CUSTOM HOUSE BROKERS FORWARDING AGENTS IMPORT EXPORT MARINE INSURANCE Established1914 CottonExchange Building Houston,Texas

YourVessel will be met at the Bar and Piloted to the Port of Houstonby HOUSTON PILOTS Day Phones: Capitol 1424 w Preston 7615 Night : Lehigh 9665

HOUSTON PILOT No. 1 or No. 2 1318-1319Petroleum Building Cable Address: HOUPLT Houston, Texas November, 1937 Houston PORT BOOK 5

SOUTHERN STEAMSHIP COMPANY HOUSTON’S "HoneerSteamship Line"

Sailings Between PHILADELPHIA, PA., and HOUSTON, TEXAS.

FromPhiladelphia, Pa., Pier 46, SouthWharves Every Wednesdayand Saturday

FromHouston, Texas, Pier No. 3 Every Mondayand Thursday

Seven Fast Steamers Serving Texas and the Southwes~ TWENTY-TWOYEARS OF TRANSPORTATION ACHIEVEMENT

General Ottlees: 1360 Broad Street Station Building, Philadelphia, Pa. AddressSouthern Steamship Co., Offices in Norfolk,Boston, Buffalo, Chicago,Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,New York, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth,and SanAntonio W. M. Vaughn,CA., Dallas; E. M. Sones, CA., Fort Worth;W. A. Bielstein, CA., San Antonio; R. T. Eatman,CA., El Paso; W. F. Land, CA., Houston;A. S. Baker, Jr., TFA.,San Angelo

T. A. O’BRIEN, GENERALFREIGHT AGENT, 1360 BROADSTREET STATION BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA. D. D. KARN, GENERALAGENT, 409 COTTONEXCHANGE BLDG., HOUSTON, TEXAS

On eAa CAannal . . . . .

~~~~-’~:’f ~~~~ ONE.OF THE NATION’S ~ ~ ~ MOST MODERN AND BEST- EQUIPPED FLOUR MILLS... ~~ Bakers all over the Southwest are benefiting from the thoroughness of our service as well as the ex-

~4.~.]~,"’/~"- cellent quality of our lookedflours. in our Nothingphysical equipmenthas beento provideover- the i~i~~-~’_4~~],..~~ ~ ~’-~’" finest grades--and a grade for your every need. "~-~~.~ ".’" ,~ "~ Direct rail and water connections insure quickde- liveries. May we have the privilege of serving YOU?

HOUSTON MILLING CO. ¯ HOUSTON, TEXAS ¯ 6 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937

Welcome to SAN JACINTO INN Located at the HisTorical San Jacinto Battlegrounds ¯ Forty Minutes Drive from Hou~on

SANJACINTO MEMORIAL

A visit to Houstonwithout a visit to San Jacinto Battlegroundsis a visit incomplete,and a visit to the Battlegroundswithout dinner at San JacintoInn is onlyhalf a visit. The guest register at San Jacinto Inn, during the past 22 years, best speaksfor its popularity. Toreach this beautiful public park, drive east on Preston Avenueto HarrisburgBoulevard, thence to La Porte Road; follow La Porte Road to Deer Park, turn left on Lynch- burg Road, then on to the famous San Jacinto Battlegrounds.

~u~ie and Dancing WINTER DINNER Tuesday through Friday Olives Shrimp Cocktail Celery 8:00 to 11:00 p. m. Oysters on the Half Shell Baked Oysters with Hot Sauce Saturday Oyster Brochette 8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Salad Sunday Tenderloin of Trout or Redfish 7:30 to 11:30 p. m. Fried Chicken Potatoes Hot Biscuits and Strawberry or Blackberry Jam Drinks Dessert

Two Dollars

MRS. PORTERVINCENT, Owner PersonallySupervised and We Close ~°very ~londay ! LUNCHEONS DALLY Managedby 12 Noon to 6:00 p. m. Ma. ANn MRS. JoE SANDERS November, 1937 Ho1181oll PORT BOOK 7

,, ,,The Port Director’s Page

The Rail-Water Terminal Problem

HIS column has carried for years comment they state that Seattle’s growthas a world port is T on this problem, and it is discouraging to shackled by the practices and charges of the vari- see the lack of interest in it, especially in ous railroad terminals at Seattle. Theygo so far the face of the facts. as to state that it involves the developmentof the The Interstate CommerceCommission and city as well as the port. the Federal Coordinator have realized the situa- tion for years. Docket 12681, which began in Those of us who know the discriminations 1921 and ran for somethinglike ten years, was an which exist and which are moreor less concealed effort to reach some solution and when this in the relationships of the carriers with the termi- docket excluded switching it left out one of the nals at the various ports can only hope that the fundamental discrepancies which should have Seattle movementis successful and, if successful, been studied and in some way regulated. In 1929 it maypoint the way out. It will be interesting the Interstate CommerceCommission declared to watch the Seattle moveto see what responsible as follows: groups and organizations help. This is important "All terminal properties should be thrown because in such a movementinterests and organ- opento all users on fair and equal terms so that izations which have advantageousrail-water ter- every industry on whatever rails located shall minal situations will not be too enthusiastic to have access to all lines radiating from that ter- give them up and this places the burden on two minal, and every line carrier reaching that ter- other groups. Those who have not got the ad- minal shall similarly have access to all terminal tracks within the terminal area. As our reports vantages will have a selfish interest in trying to show, for years access to terminals has raised secure the advantage and the second group is the questions associated with such terms as recipro- one, and the only one, in whichthe writer is in- cal switching, absorption of switching charges, terested, and it concerns the group who maybe switching of competitivetraffic, favored zones, and switching of noncompetitive traffic, and truly interested in the public interest. with unjust discriminations and undue prefer- It is to the public interest to stop these glar- ences. The unification of terminal properties ing and discriminatory relationships at the port everywhere should put an end to disputes of this character to the advantagealike of all rail- and let’s hope that all groups and individuals roads and all users of railroads. In the interest whoare interested in fair dealing secure full in- of efficient and economical operation and the formation on the Seattle movementand see to it free movementof traffic, restrictions in service that the declaration by the Interstate Commerce and discrimination in charges whichhave arisen Commissionshall not have been in vain. from differences in local terminal situations should cease to be a feature of railroad operation." It is noticed nowthat the Seattle Terminal Board has been organized in Seattle, Wash., and ( ¯ . . ANDOF

lug,

I beams And the $4,0oo,ooo told that anomaly ing

THIS PAGE REPRODUCED FROM FORTUNE MAGAZINE OF SEPTEMBER, 1937 BY PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHERS Original painting by Paul Sample in July, 1937 "Advertising Houston to the World"

Houston PORT BOOK Official Publicationof the HoustonPort Commission HOUSTON, TEXAS

VOLUMEFIFTEEN NOVEMBER,1937 NUMBER TWO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE FOREWORD The Port Director’s Page--The Rail-Water Terminal Problem ...... 7 Houston--And of a Channel Parvenu--Reproduced from "Forlune" Magazine ...... 8 Through the co-operation of the ship- Mapof Turning Basin, ShowingLocation of Public Wharves and Elevator ...... 10 ping and industrial interests of Houston, the Port Commission has been enabled to Directoryof Port Officials...... 11 arrange for the publication of this book Administrationof the Port...... 11 twice annually. Directory of MaritimeInterests and Foreign Consulates...... 12 Its purpose is to inform shippers and / all others interested in the Port of Hous- v Houston--City of Oil and Commerce--AStory of Progress ...... 13 ton of its development, charges and other BusinessBarometer of Houston...... 14 matters of interest, and inquiries will at all times be welcome. HoustonAgain TopsState in Building ...... 14 Address the Director of the Port, Civil WoolScouring Plant in Texas...... 15 Courts Building, Houston, Texas. Houston’s Relationship to the Cities of the Great Southwest--San Angelo, Texas .... 19 THE HouSTON PORT BOOK is pub- The Houston Chamber of Commerce--ADirectory of Officials and Departments .... 21 lished in May and November of each year under contract and authority of the A DetailedDescription of the Port ...... 22 Navigation and Canal Commission. Map--ShowingPort of HomtonIndustrial District ...... 26-27 As the official magazine of the Hous- Tariff of the Port of Houston...... 28 ton Port Commission, this publication is intended to carry authoritative descrip- Port Notes--NewsItems of/,he Port a,*d Its Activities ...... 29 tions, notices and articles in regard to the Public Wharves--ADescription of the Public Wharves...... 41 activities of the Port Commissionand the port development. However, the Com- Private Wharves--ADescription o[ the Private Wharves...... 41 missioners cannot be responsible in all Privately OwnedTerminal and Industrial Facilities ...... respects for the contents thereof, or for 42 the opinions of writers to which expres- ChannelPilotage and Charges...... 45 sion is given. TugBoat Tariff for HoustonShip Channel...... 45 The publication is distributed free to Chargesfor Mooringand UnmooringVessels ...... 45 maritime, transportation and industrial HoustonRanks as a Major Port of the United States--Statistics ...... 47 interests in the United States and foreign countries. Port of Houston--CommercialStatistics ...... 48 Comparative Standing of Texas Ports--Calendar Years 1955-1956 ...... 49 Additional copies of this publication may be had upon application to the Di- Houston Steamship Service--Steamship Lines, Ports of Call and Agents or rector of the Port, Civil Courts Building, Operators...... 50 Houston, Texas, or to any of the adver- Tanker Lines-Ports of Call and Agents or Operators ...... 51 tisers. BargeLines--Ports of Call and Agentsor Operators...... 52 Indexto Advertisements...... 46 10 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937

t November, 1937 Houston PORT BOOK 11

Directory of Port Officials

Board of Commissioners

J. W. EVANS,Chairman R. J. CUMMINS,Vice Chairman W. A. SHERMAN, Vice Chairman K. E. WOMACK,Commissioner W. W. STRONG,Commissioner

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS J. RUSSELLWAIT, Director of the Port J. L. ARCHER,Accountant D. A. SIMMONS, Counsel CHARLESCROTTY, Assistant J. T. HANWAY,Supt. Wharves H. L. WASHBURN.Auditor GEO. S. COLBY,Supt. Grain Elevator Dept.

OFFIcE--FIFTH FLOORCIVIL COURTSBUILDING, HOUSTON,TEXAS Telephone Preston 3241

Port Officials DIRECTOR OF THE PORT ...... J. RUSSELL WAIT Executive O~ce: Civil Courts Bldg .... Preston 3241 ASSISTANT ...... CHARLES CROTTY Residence Telephone Hadley 7239 SUPERINTENDENT OF WHARVES ...... J. T. HANWAY General O~ce: Wharf 14 Telephone Wayside 7174 Residence Telephone Hadley 8651 ASSISTANT ...... A. B. LANDRAM Residence Telephone Wayside 8917 SUPT. GRAIN ELEVATOR DEPT ...... GEO. S. COLBY General O.Oice: Wharf 14 ...... Wayside 7174 HARBOR PATROL OFFICER ...... RAYMONDCAGE 3607 Broadway ...... Telephone Wydown 9-1209 Assistant ...... R. E. SHOOK 1416 Broadway ...... Telephone Woodcrest 6-1151 FIRE BOAT "PORT HOUSTON" Phone Preston 2323 Sta. 21 HOUSTON PORT AND TRAFFIC BUREAU H. B. CUMMINS, General Manager J. L. READ,Assistant 1507 Cotton Exchange Building, Houston, Tex. Telephone Preston 0552

Administration of the Port

HE PORTOF HOUSTONis operated by the Navigation and Canal Commission of five members, serving without pay, who are ap- T pointed two by the City and two by County Commissioners and the Chairman by the City and County Commissioners in joint session. These Port Commissioners serve for a period of two years, the terms expiring alternate years. Under this Board the affairs are handled by the Director of the Port. The Navigation District includes all of Harris County. The Board controls the commercial activities of the Port and the construction and maintenance of the terminal facilities, and through co-operation with the Federal Government the construction and improvement of the waterway. The wharves and railroad facilities constructed and operated by the City of Houston in 1915 and 1918 were transferred under a lease agreement to the Port Commissionon October 1st, 1922, for a period of thirty years, the City to be paid the net revenue after operation and maintenance charges were deducted from the gross receipts. All further construction will be under the direction of the Navigation District. 12 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937 Directory of Maritime Interests and Foreign Consulates United States Services BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGYAND PLANT QUARANTINE H. C. MILLENDER,Inspector in Charge ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT O. D. MORRIS,Inspector Engineer Offcials in Charge of the Construction of the Houston Office: 121 Broadway ...... Wayside 3435 Ship Channel: LmUT.-CoL. FRANKS. BESSON, Miscellaneous Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, Galveston.. Tel. 8200 JOHNEHRHARDT, U. S. Asst. Engineer, HOUSTONPILOTS, 1J 12 Petroleum Building ...... Preston 7615 in charge of field offce, Houston ...... Wayside 1583 HOUSTON MARITIME ASSOCIATION LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE S. A. DUNLAP,President, FRANCESDALEY, Secretary E. S. LANPHIER,Superintendent, Eighth District, 1507 Cotton Exchange Building ...... Preston ~ 517 U. S. Lighthouse Service, New Orleans, La. SEAMEN’S CHURCHINSTITUTE, J. L. Taylor, Manager Wayside 0391 COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS ...... FREDC. PABST 75th and Beaumont Streets ...... Office: Federal Building, Galveston, Texas ...... Tel. 5254 UNITED STATES SALVAGE ASSOCIATION Houston Office: 621 M.’~ M. Building ...... Preston 5194 J. R. BENCAL,Surveyor Petroleum Building ...... Capitol 6912 DEPUTY COLLECTOR ...... G. J. GEYER Office: 621 M. ~ M. Building ...... Preston 5194 Temporary quarters pending completion of new Federal Foreign Consulates Building. ARGENTINA: W. A. Evans, Vice Consul BARGEOFFICE: 121 Broadway ...... Wayside 3435 Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5111 BAYTOWNOFFICE, Baytown ...... CHARLESR. Fox BELGIUM:R. C. Patterson, Hun. Consul CUSTOMAPPRAISER’S STORE ...... H. L. BOWER 1109 Second National Bank Building ...... Preston 1434 121 BROADWAY...... Wayside 2297 CHILE: T. L. Evans, Consular Agent DEPUTY SHIPPING COMMISSIONER ...... H. J. CANNON Wayside 5000 Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5111 Offce: 1214 Seventy-fift.h Street ...... CHINA: Tsin Lon Ouang, Vice Consul BUREAU OF NAVIGATION 714 Richmond Road ...... Jackson 2-1177 AND STEAMBOAT INSPECTION COLOMBIA:H. E. del Castillo, Vice Consul CAPTAINA. MIRANDA, Inspector 710 Sterling Building ...... Capitol 5256 Tel. 3117 Federal Building, Galveston ...... COSTARICA: C. A. Miller, Hun. Consul BUREAU OF MARINE INSPECTION AND NAVIGATION 512 First National Banlt Building ...... Capitol 5811 J. B. CARSKADON,Manager CZECHOSLOVAKIA:Dr. Charles J. Hollub, Consul Wayside 5000 Office: 1214 Seventy-fift.h Street ...... 711 Medical Arts Building ...... Preston 2553 U. S. COAST GUARD DENMARK:Edmund Pincoffs, Vice Consul BERGERBENSON, Commander, Eighth District No. I Main Street ...... Preston 8191 Office: American National Insurance Building, DOMINICANREPUBLIC: Ra[ael A. Espaillat, Consul Galveston, Texas ...... Tel. 1585 213 Marine Bank Building ...... Fairfax 0644 Cutter SARANAC,Pier 20 ...... Tel. 1721 T. L. Evans, Vice Consul Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5111 PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, RELIEF STATION FRANCE:G. P. F. Jouine, Consul SIMM H. MOORE, M. D. Preston 5600 Office: 416-I7 Medical Arts Building ...... Fairfax 5232 928 Shell Building ...... GUATEMALA:T. L. Evans, Consul WEATHERBUREAU ...... C. E. NORQUEST Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5111 Capitol 6919 Office: Shell Building ...... HAITI: T. L. Evans, Consul DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5111 Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, CHESTZRBRYAN, HONDURAS:T. L. Evans, Vice Consul District Manager, Offce Chamber of Commerce Bldg. Chamber of Commerce Building ...... Preston 5 I1 I Capitol 6271 ITALY: Dr. Luigi G. Nassano, Vice Consul 407 Shell Building ...... Capitol 0751 U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY LT. COMMANDERG. C. MATTISON JAPAN: Notmzo Kawai, Commercial Agent, The Ministry Room 314, Customhouse, 423 Canal Street of Commerce and Industry of Japanese Government. New Orleans, La. Cotton Exchange Building ...... Preston 9751 U. S. HYDROGRAPHICOFFICE MEXICO: Luis L. Duplan, Consul 212 Marine Banlt Building ...... Fairfax 1700 A. E. FREED, Lt. Commander U. S. Navy, Offcer in Charge / Federal Building, Galveston . Tel. 2404 -NICARAGUA:F. ]. Moliere Icaza, Consul ...... 2301 Bagby Street ...... Hadley 7816 IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE NORWAY:J. Newton Rayzor, Vice Consul L. D. CROSSMAN, Inspector in Charge Cotton Exchange Building ...... Capitol 6371 Office: 322 Federal Building ...... Preston 2426 PANAMA:Samud W. Heald, Honorary Consul DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 512 West Main ...... Hadley 8292 BUREAU OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY PERU: C. A. Miller, Consul DR. DONB. STRICKLER,Inspector in Charge 512 First National Ban]t Building ...... Capitol 5811 DAVIDH. EVERETT,Inspector SPAIN: W. A. Combs, Vice Consul Office: 317 Federal Building ...... Faffax 3000 417 Shell Building ...... Capitol 5249 November, 1937 Houston PORT BOOK 13

Houston--City of Oil and Commerce

Its population has tripled in twenty years and its port now ranks second in the nation. Dale Miller, Asso- ciate Editor, The Texas Weekly, relates a story o] progress and the part the petroleum industry has played.

NE HUNDREDyears ago this year, when the Republic of issue previously approved by a ratio of sixteen to one, and eventually, Texas was only a year old and the City of Houston was in August, 1915, Wharf No. 1 was completed. Thereupon Houston O younger still, the founders of the latter discovered that Buf- became a port in the true sense. Amongits first imports were ship- falo Bayou, the sluggish tide-water stream on which their unpre- loads of bananas from Honduras, phosphate rock from Tampa, coal tentious little village was situated, was navigable to an admirable from Norfolk--and crude oil from Tampico! degree. It boasted a depth of ten feet, even twenty in places, which Since then the Port of Houston has managed to keep pace with was generous indeed, considering the modest requirements of most progress, but it has had a tough time doing it. A deepening of the of the vessels of that day; and had it been deeper, nature’s prodigal- channel to 30 feet soon became necessary, and, during the five ity would have contributed no greater opportunities, for the depth years from 1920 to 1925 while the work was under way, traffic of the bayou was the same as that which prevailed across Galveston increased from 1,210,204 tons valued at $82,301,162 to 9,747,122 Bay. Consequently, a flourishing commerce was soon under way, tons valued at $490,006,292. Further improvement in facilities soon endless caravans of ox wagons bringing timber, cotton, and farm became necessary, and two years ago an increase of depth to 34-36 produce to the bayou village for reshipment on barges and flat- feet was authorized. Today Port Houston teems with activity, bottomed river boats to Galveston and beyond, and returning with and the vision of its pioneers is substantiated by the fact that it is cargoes of tools, farm supplies, and other products of the industrial now the second seaport in the United States. world outside. It is interesting to note that one of the first cargoes to be un- But the march of civilization made more exacting the physical lo~J~toust~~n~tw_enty years ago was the shipload requirements of vessels engaged in heavy transportation, and soon of crude oil from Tampico. T oi~ay, of co~-~-firs~, d~wd~3~o-hstlttites Texas was without a seaport in the new and modern definition of a-~ous-item, not of import, but of export; and no industry, the term, for there was no channel or harbor which could accommo- it is safe to say, has contributed as much to the growth of Houston date the larger ships. But productive Texas was like a cow with a and its present economic status as the petroleum industry. Houston full udder, and Congress finally responded to the insistence of is the nation’s leading cotton port, it is true, having exported as Texas delegations that she needed a systematic milking, and ap- many as 2,392,000 bales in a single year. The city is within easy proved a recommendation of the Board of Engineers that a channel reach of farms and ranches engaged in heavy production of staple be dug to the Galveston wharves and protected by stone jetties commodities and livestock. But it is the petroleum industry which from Galveston Island and Boliver Peninsula out into the gulf. has supplied the greatest impetus for sustained economic growth. This gave Galveston its sea-going vessels, and, while the con- Within 100 miles of Houston are proven reserves of crude oil struction of a deep water port on the Texas coast was of great bene- totaling 1,250,000,000 barrels, 24 per cent of the known reserves fit to the entire State, the growing city of Houston disliked the pros- of Texas; within 165 miles, which encompasses the East Texas field, pect of being left with a fleet of barges and river craft. Thereupon are 3,000,000,000 barrels more. But not only from these nearby began a long campaign to secure Congressional appropriations for fields does Houston receive its oil. Pipe lines bring oil from New the dredging of a channel of 25 feet from Galveston Bay up Buf- Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as well as falo Bayou to Houston. A dubious success crowned its efforts in from Texas, and it is generally recognized that the discovery of new 1899 when the project was approved, but the funds appropriated fields anywhere throughout the Mid-Continent area will redound were sufficient to dig a channel of only 18½ feet; this was deeper to Houston’s immediate benefit. In any event, Houston is recog- than necessary for barges but not deep enough for ocean vessels, nized today as the oil capital of the world. More than five hundred and it didn’t even improve the fishing. oil companies maintain their headquarters in Houston, and it has So the fight went on, and when, in 1910, Congress still mani- been reliably estimated that in Houston and its outlying districts fested little disposition to complete the program it had adopted eleven approximately 180,000 persons are directly dependent upon the years earlier, the Houston delegation offered to pay half of the industry for their livelihood. The Humble Oil and Refining Com- $2,500,000 necessary if Congress would pay the other half. This pany alone, for instance, distributes pay checks to 12,000 employes was unheard of, and Congress promptly accepted. Up to this point from its Houston headquarters. progress had been too slow; thereafter it became too fast. The chan- Just how much the petroleum industry has meant to the growth nel was completed a year ahead of schedule, and Houston found of the Port of Houston can be grasped from the fact that in 1934 itself without adequate wharves and terminal facilities. But a bond more than 87 per cent of the tonnage moving from the port was issue of $3,000,000 was hastily passed, augmenting the $1,250,000 petroleum and its products. And it should be added parenthetically

Houston uptown industrial district one mile above basin 14 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937 that the dependence of other Texas ports upon petroleum and its bananas from Honduras. They know lots of things they didn’t know products is even greater. During the same year tonnage from Corpus before, but it has been that way all along. Houston’s worry has not Christi and Aransas Pass was 92 per cent petroleum and its products; been in cranking up the juggernaut of progress but in keeping from from Texas City, 96 per cent; from Beaumont, Sabine, and Port being run over by it. So the Chamber of Commerce would just as Arthur, 98 per cent. From all Texas ports petroleum and its products soon not guess about the future, thank you. Let it take care of itself. constituted 89.51 per cent of the total tonnage shipped. And what petroleum has meant to transportation by water, it has also meant, in lesser degree, to transportation by rail. One railroad entering Houston has reported that 60 per cent of its incoming and outgoing Business Barometer of Houston freight consists of petroleum and its products or oil field material 1936 and First Ten Months of 1937 and equipment. There are two tangible evidences of the petroleum industry’s Bank Clearings importance to the city itself. In the first place, it is the highest paid 1936 1937 industry in the nation. Wages commenceat base rate of 65 cents an January...... $ 144,737,895 $16.9,819,877 hour for commonlabor, and this rate applies to the refining as well February...... 127,642,354 150,575,779 as the field division of the industry. What it means to a city and a March...... 141,154,267 184,960,602 State to have an industry as extensive as the petroleum industry April...... 135,696,616 176,179,461 pitch its wage scale on such a level can easily be imagined. The dis- May...... 131,712,170 166,869,632 tribution of such heavy payrolls stimulates economic activity to such June...... 146,402,060 178,153,468 July...... 151,8.93,777 185,645,662 a degree that wage scales in other industries are increased also. August...... 147,796,438 183,847,2.53 Secondly, the great development of the petroleum industry has September...... 159,360,386 207,237,342 October...... 179,515,342 195,541,030 stimulated extensive manufacturing activity in Houston among November...... 160,162,441 allied industries. The refineries on the ship channel now have a December...... 181,684,732 capacity of 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily and employ 8,000 men. Every American company engaged in servicing the petroleum in- TOTAL...... $1,80’7,758,478 dusty is represented in Houston with some form of manufacturing plant. The Hughes Tool Company,for example, which is the largest -. manufacturer of oil field equipment in the world, has eighteen acres Postal Receiots Building Permits under roof and employs 3,700 workers, more than six times the num- 1936 1937 1936 1937 ber employed only six years ago. Exports of oil field equipment con- stitute a nucleus of Houston’s growing trade with Central and January...... $ 194,878 $212,022 $ 793,921 $2,906,605 February...... South America, and so rapidly is this commerce developing that the 185,305 198,904 3,691,612 1,347~210 March...... 194,671 235,555 2,570,890 1,628,865 Chamber of Commercehas found it necessary to employ a corps of April...... 207,882 227,982 1,240,20.5 1,410,055 Spanish linguists and secretaries. Consequently, much of Houston’s May...... 194,453 211:097 832,525 2,350,465 growth in recent years is attributable to the petroleum industry. June...... 200,958 213,124 1,176,322 1,502,90O July...... 199,010 216263 857.170 992.045 It should not be supposed, of course, that considerable manu- August...... 190,451 210,091 972,525 1,817,440 facturing activity has not been undergone outside the ramifications September...... 199,054 223,121 1,077,594 1,009,430 of the petroleum industry. The Champion Paper and Fibre Company, October...... 224,548 238,076 2,296,387 1,144,990 November...... 194,031 ...... 1,302,445...... for instance, has constructed a factory at a cost of $3,500,000 to December...... 275,249 ...... 1,649,370...... manufacture pulp from East Texas lumber. The American Can Company is spending $1,500,000 more in the construction of a TOTAL...... $2,460,494 $18,460,966 Houston plant. These are only two major examples of far-reaching activity. During 1935 the capital invested in new manufacturing plants and equipment was $3,000,000; in 1936 it reached $8,000,- 000; and during the first eight months of 1937 it had soared to $11,- Houston Again Tops State in 283,000. The value of Houston’s manufactured products in 1935 was $91,895,685, and has grown substantially since. Its building Building permits have risen 700 per cent during the past five years, the $2,- 874,040 figure in 1932 reaching $18,460,966 in 1936, and $14,016,- First Ten Months 630 in only the first eight months of 1937. It is an astonishing fact 1936 1937 that Houston’s building permits thus far issued in 1937 exceed the total of those issued in the three other largest cities of Texas com- Houston...... $18,460,96600 $16~039,505.00 Dallas...... 10,987,285.00 6,941,288.00 bined! FortWorth ...... 8,541,782.00 6,014,307.00 Most interesting example of construction under way near Hous- SanAntonio ...... 4,594,381.00 3,703,4.50.00 Austin...... 4,391,235.00 3,192,024.00 ton is the San Jacinto Memorial, now being built at a cost of $1,250,- CorpusChristi ...... 2,718,759.00 2,907,417.00 000. The 564-foot shaft, taller than the Washington monument University Park (Dallas Suburb) 2,084,379.00 and destined to be more imposing when completed a few months Tyler...... 1,775,570.00 1,060,453.00 from now, rises in the midst of the San Jacinto battlefield where Longview...... 1,591,117.00, Galveston...... 1,562,591.00 3,279,060.00 Sam Houston routed the army of Santa Anna 101 years ago and West University Park (Houston achieved the independence of Texas. An architectural and engineer- Suburb)...... 1,250,000.00 ing triumph, the monument seems commemorative not only of the Beaumont...... 1,199,728.00 Texas past but of the progress achieved in the Texas of today, and Amarillo...... 1,194.067.00 from both standpoints its location near Houston is appropriate. Lubbock...... 1.135,995.00 1,401,694.00 PortArthur ...... 1,120,557.00 What will be the future of the bayou city those who are in best WichitaFalls ...... 923,228.00 307,296.00 position to guess steadfastly refuse to do so. They are wary by ex- Hi~bland Park (Dallas Suburb) .... 877,798.00 Abilene...... 670.802..00 386,219.00 perience. They know that Houston’s population has reached 400,000 Pampa...... 462,187.00 today, but they had no intimation that it would twenty years ago SanAngelo ...... 332,975.00 when it was only" 120,000. They know, too, that Houston is the Corsicana...... 114,983.00 114,750.00 second port in the nation today, but they did not conceive it as pos- TOTAL...... $65,990,385.00 sible twenty years ago when they cheered the arrival of a shipload of November, 1937 Houxto~ PORT BOOK lg

Fresh Shorn Goats in Hill County, Texas Wool Scouring Plant In Texas

Texas has long been one o~ the leading states in the production o~ wool and mohair, a commodity that is largely shipped out o~ Philadelphia area, one at Camden, New Jersey, and one at Phila- the state /or cleaning, scouring and spinning. As there is a very delphia. Coastwise shipments of wool may be processed at these heavy shrinkage in the scouring process, a care/ul study has re- plants in transit, the scouring in transit charge being three cents cently been made by Messrs. Hawley, Freese and Nichols, Consult- (3c) per hundred pounds of wool, grease basis. In the Boston ing Engineers, Fort Worth, Texas, /or the Texas Planning Board, area a large commercial scouring plant is located in each of the showing the advantages o~ locating a suitable scouring plant at Houston and thus save a large amount in /reight, as well as recover following cities: East Weymouth, Lawrence, Newtonville, Boston, the wool grease /or use in other local industries. North Chelmsford and Lowell. Two commercial scouring plants Extracts /rom this report are quoted herein by permission o/ are located at San Francisco and one at Chicago through which the authors and the Texas Planning Board, as /ollows: latter point a considerable volume of Territory wools move all rail to market and at which point the wools may be processed in Wool Scouring Plants in the United States transit. No commission scouring plants are located other than in the vicinity of the principal wool shipping and receiving points. rooL scouring plants are of two general types: the inde- pendent commercial or commission type which does None of the Atlantic Seaboard commission scouring plants has W scouring and usually carbonizing on a commission basis dock facilities for receiving coastwise and foreign shipments of for the wool manufacturing trade, a second type comprising the wool into the plant or for shipping from the plant. The wool is scouring plants operated in direct connection with the mills. A hauled from the dock to the scouring plant and from the plant scouring plant located in Texas would of necessity be of the com- to dock for coastwise shipments; in some instances the wool is mission type. hauled from dock to warehouse to scouring plant and from the The services rendered the wool manufacturing trade by com- plant is hauled back to the warehouse or shipped to the mill. The plants may absorb all or part of these costs on lots received with mercial wool scouring plants are: wool grading and sorting; blending of various wools; scouring; in most instances, the carbonizing "working" instructions. For lots received without "working" in- of burry and seedy wools; in a few instances, depainting; and structions, a typical charge is seven (7c) per hundred pounds the provision of warehousing when desired by the customer. The grease wool in bags or of scoured wool in bales, for hauling to or majority of the business done by commercial or commission scour- from the dock. ing plants is for the woolen and felt manufacturing trades and very little for the worsted trade. The Del Rio-South Edwards Impurities in Raw Wool to be Removed by Scouring Plateau area is the principal producing zone of short 8 months The raw wool fiber as it exists in the fleece contains a large and 4 months wools in the United States, some 16,800,000 pounds amount of natural impurities which may be classified as follows: having been produced in 1936. This short wool, with the exception of 8 months wools having good length of staple, is largely con- 1. Grease or wool fat, sumed by woolen and felt manufacturers, most of whom require 2. Suint or dried up perspiration, the services of commission scouring plants. 3. Dirt, dust, sand, burrs and so forth. The worsted manufacturers, except for the few who buy tops and yarns, have their own scouring equipment by reason of the The object of scouring and carbonizing is to remove these im- fact that they prefer to do their own sorting and blending of purities and to leave the fiber pure and clean with the least pos- the various wools meeting their requirements. The worsted mills sible injury. Wool grease or wool fat is insoluble in water but may do not provide a market for scoured wool unless such scoured be readily removed by solutions of soap and alkali. The wool grease wool has been converted into tops or yarns. The worsted mills or fat removed from the wool is the source of lanolin, a fatty sub- use practically all of the long (12 months) wool produced stance used as a basis for ointments. The "suint" (French word Texas. for "wool-sweat") contains various metallic salts of organic acids such as potassium acetate. These salts are soluble in water hence are Two large commercial scouring plants are located in the easily removed in the scouring process. Miscellaneous dirt in the 16 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937

Texas and New Mexico wools only. Just prior to scouring, the wool is run through a mechanical duster to remove as much dirt and chaff as possible by this means. From the duster the wool is fed by an automatic feed into the first bowl of the scouring train which may consist of either four or five bowls. The bowls are usually rectangular cast iron tanks four (4) feet in width and varying in length from thirty-two (32) feet to sixteen (16) feet, the first two bowls of the train being the longer with the succeeding bowls progressively shorter. These bowls are equipped with false bottoms which allow the loose dirt and sediment to fall through for subsequent removal. The wool is carried through the scouring train by means of rakes mov- 26, D ing the fiber gently along with a minimumamount of agitation. Angora (or Mohair) Goats Just BeJore Shearing Time Rubber covered squeeze rolls located after each bowl squeeze the stock thoroughly, thereby removing a great deal of the scouring liquor before the wool passes into the next bowl and finally into wool is not soluble in water and is mechanically removed by agitation in the process of scouring. The vegetable matter, such as the feed hopper of the dryer. burrs, grass, sticks, leaves and so forth, is not removed in the As might be expected scouring practice varies considerably scouring process, but is removed by carbonizing when required. from plant to plant and must of necessity vary with different The loss in weight of the wool which occurs in the scouring types of wool. It is a general custom, however, to maintain a scour- and carbonizing processes is termed "shrinkage" in the wool trade, ing solution in the first bowl. in which the ratio of alkali to soap this shrinkage being measured in terms of per cent of the original is highest. The second bowl usually contains a smaller amount of weight of the wool "in the grease." alkali in proportion to the soap. The third bowl usually contains soap only. The fourth bowl usually contains rinse water only The amount of impurities will vary with breed and sex of and the fifth bowl, when present, is quite often used for a light sheep, type of range on which the sheep are grazed, method of han- peroxide bleach or further rinsing. dling the sheep on the range and the preparation of the wool for market. The Fine wool sheep, which produce in excess of ninety Grease wool is fed to the scouring bowls at a speed propor- per cent of the Texas clip, are predominantly of the breeds: Ram- tional to the grease content of the wool and the shrinkage desired, bouillet, Delaine Merino and crosses of these two. The type of the rate varying from 800 pounds per hour on exceptionally range on the Edwards Plateau, where the majority of Texas wool greasy wools to 1,400 pounds per hour on wools with a low is produced, is well adapted to the grazing of sheep. The sheep in- grease content. In a commission wool scouring plant many different dustry is developing rapidly in the Plains-Panhandle areas where kinds of wool are ordinarily handled and the scouring conditions the sandy ranges produce heavier shrinking wools, due to the will, of course, be varied to suit the particular lot of wool and greater sand content of the wools. Texas is unique in that the specifications of the owner of the wool. It is customary to make sheep are largely grazed in fenced pastures which is conducive to a stock solution of soap and a separate stock solution of alkali in a lighter shrinking wool; whereas sheep in most of the Western order that they may be piped into the scouring bowls in any desired States are generally herded in bands of from one to two thousand quantity. The soap solution is usually a ten per cent (10%) solu- head on open ranges. Texas wools are better prepared for market tion and the alkali solution is usually a twelve per cent (12%) than in other Western States due to care in handling the fleeces, the solution of soda ash. elimination of tags, and the absence of false packing. The average Additions of soap and alkali are made from time to time to shrinkage of Texas produced Fine wools is sixty-one and one-half maintain a constant strength of liquor in each bowl, such addi- (61 I./2 ) per cent, varying from fifty-five ( 55 % ) per cent in tions being determined by the type of wool being scoured and the instances in the southern part of the Edwards Plateau to an ex- amount of scouring desired. The amount of grease left in the wool treme in excess of eighty (80%) per cent in parts of the Panhandle. depends upon the requirements of the particular customer and The Plains-Panhandle wools, the heavy shrinking New Mexico varies from one-half of one per cent (½ %) of the scoured weight wools, and tags and clippings will shrink seventy (70%) per cent to as high as twelve per cent (12%) of the scoured weight in some on an average. instances. The average is approximately one per cent (1%). Control tests can and should be made on the scouring liquor. Description of Wool Scouring Processes Baths should be maintained at the proper strength by the means of From the early days of history, grease and dirt have been re- such control tests. One method is by titrating a small sample of moved from raw wool by an extensive series of washings with soap the scouring liquor with normal sulphuric acid using phenolph- and alkali-containing materials. The term, wool scouring, has thalein and methyl orange indicators. These tests will show the been given to this process "that was old when the nomadic chief- amount of free and combined alkali. Calculations can then be tain, Abraham, surrounded by his flocks, slowly crossed the plains made of the soda ash and the soap percentages present in the bowl. of Esdraelon." Electrometric pH apparatus may also be used and will furnish an accurate indication of the amount of active alkalinity or Prior to scouring in a modern plant, the wool is graded, sorted, acidity. The pH or hydrogen ion concentration in liquor is usually blended and dusted. In grading, the wool is classified as whole maintained at from 9.5 to 11. fleeces according to the predominating length and strength of staple, fineness of fiber, color, content of vegetable and other for- Soft water must be used, as calcium and magnesium salts will eign matter. In sorting, the string which ties the fleece together combine with the soap to form insoluble curds which cannot be is removed by the sorter who opens up the fleece, shaking it thor- fully rinsed from the wool fibers. When the latter conditon ex- oughly to remove foreign matter and short inferior bits of wool; ists faulty dyeing will result. Temperatures commonly used for the graded fleece is then placed on the sorting bench where the the scouring liquors are as follows: sorter breaks the fleece into the various sorts again according to ° length and strength of staple, fineness, of fiber, color, content of 1st bowl ...... 120 F. vegetable and other foreign matter, and in addition, according to 2nd bowl ...... 115 o F. ° paint wools (wools from paint branded sheep), and stained dung 3rd bowl ...... 110 F. ° encrusted wools. Blending consists in the bringing together of 4th bowl ...... 100 F. sorted wools of the same grade but different origins. Very little ° 5th bowl ...... 100 F, blending would be necessary at a Texas scouring plant scouring November, 1937 Houston PORT BOOK

Wool scouring soaps should be neutral, of low titre and should have a low iodine number to prevent rancidity. Soda ash is the commonalkali used in wool scouring although it is possible to use other alkalies under certain conditions. After being scoured the wool is dried in a rectangular chamber placed in a longitudinal line with and as an integral part of the scouring train. The dryer is fed from a hopper which takes the wool from the rinse bowl squeeze rolls. The wool passes through the dryer on an endless apron of hardware cloth or perforated metal. Hot air from steam coils is circulated in the dryer chamber by the use of fans. Whenthe wool leaves the dryer for bagging or baling it should have a moisture content of approximately twelve per cent of the bone dry scoured weight. This percentage of moisture is known as "condition" in the trade, a 12% "condition" be- Truck Loads o/ Mohair Waiting to be Weighed ing equivalent to a 13.6% "regain." Commercial or commission scouring is done by the scour- Summary and Conclusions ing plant for a fee, usually two cents (2c) per pound of wool Upon scouring, Texas wools shrink sixty-one and one-half in the grease, paid by the merchant or mill owning the wool. Of per cent (611~~) in weight on an average, this shrinkage the estimated 6,000,000 pounds of wool to be scoured in a Texas weight being as high as seventy per cent (70%) for the average plant, 4,000,000 pounds (3,000,000 pounds of short and 1,000,000 Plains-Panhandle wools. A large part of the New Mexico wools, pounds of twelve months) would probably be scoured on a com- which are shipped through Houston and Galveston, are also heavy mission basis. The remaining 2,000,000 pounds of heavy shrink- shrinking wools with a shrinkage approximating that of the ing Plains-Panhandle wools (1,000,000 pounds) and clippings, Plains-Panhandle wools. Scouring is accomplished by washing the tags, etc., (1,000,000 pounds) are much more attractive to the wool in soap and alkali solutions. buyer in a scoured state than in the grease. For this reason it should prove profitable to the Texas scouring plant to purchase this wool Wool scouring plants are located either at the mills, usually in the grease and to sell it as scoured wool. In other words, the worsted mills, or at raw wool shipping and receiving centers. plant could act profitably as a merchant in handling these heavy Scouring plants not connected with a mill and doing a general shrinking wools. The foregoing estimates of the amounts of wool business are known as commercial or commission plants and scour to be profitably scoured in a Texas plant have been prepared on a large part of the wool used by the woolen mills as differentiated this basis. The merchandising operation in the heavy shrinking from the worsted mills. Commission scouring plants are located at wools could also be performed at a profit by Boston or Philadelphia Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago, or in the im- wool merchants. In the case of the San Francisco plant which both mediate vicinity of these wool receiving and shipping centers. scours and merchandises the wool, the plant buys heavy shrinking Scouring plants have been located at interior wool centers in the California wools in the grease, scours the wool, and sells the producing areas, but either have failed or have been moved to a scoured wool through a Boston merchant. wool shipping port. In general these plants scour wool on a commission basis for Boston and Philadelphia wool merchants or for Almost all Texas and New Mexico wools are shipped through other owners of the wool. In the case of one of the San Francisco Houston-Galveston, whereas of the above 6,000,000 pounds of plants, the owner of the plant acts as merchant in the marketing wool susceptible of profitable scouring in Texas, probably 3,000,000 of heavy shrinking California wools which he scours. pounds per annum could be concentrated at either of the leading interior points of San Angelo or Del Rio. Operating costs for The Texas wools practicable of scouring in a Texas plant are 3,000,000 pound scouring plants at San Angelo and Del Rio are the Fall and short Spring wools produced in the Del Rio area, the given herein. heavy shrinking Plains-Panhandle wools, and the clippings and Houston and Galveston together ship twice as much wool as tags which are more largely produced in the San Angelo area. There any other port in the country and ship practically all of the Fine is also a market for some scoured twelve months wool, San Angelo short Spring and Fall wools which are particularly adaptable to being the largest concentration point for twelve months wool in scouring in a commission scouring plant. The total volume of wool the producing section of this country. Texas is now producing in handled at Houston-Galveston is only exceeded by the Boston re- excess of 60,000,000 pounds of wool per annum, having produced ceipts. The volume handled at Philadelphia, including imports of in 1936 approximately 66,000,000 pounds, of which some 16,- carpet wools, is less than the Houston-Galveston shipments. By 800,000 pounds were Fall and short Spring wools. New Mexico reason of the fact that all of the Texas and New Mexico wools, produces approximately 16,000,000 pounds of wool per annum potentially to be scoured in a Texas plant, move through Houston of which some 10,000,000 pounds are of the heavy shrinking or Galveston, it is deemed advisable to locate the plant at either type. Houston or Galveston. Houston would be the better location of It is estimated that 6,000,000 pounds of the Texas annual the two because of the following facts: wool clip could be profitably scoured in Texas and a market found therefor. This estimate is derived as follows: (a) Fifty per cent more wool moves through Houston than Galveston. 3,000,000 pounds of Fall and short Spring wools from (b) The short wools from along the Southern P:.qfic Rail- the Del Rio area, to be scoured on a commission basis. way largely move through Houston. 1,000,000 pounds of twelve months wool from the San (c) Soft water is available at Houston in large quantities Angelo area, to be scoured on a commission basis. and at a low cost, the water supply being an important factor in the scouring of wool. 1,000,000 pounds of heavy shrinking Plains-Panhandle wools to be scoured and merchandised. A scouring plant with a capacity of 6,000,000 pounds of wool per annum would require two scouring trains, preferably of five 1,000,000 pounds of tags, clippings, etc., largely from the bowls each. A two scouring train plant is also an economical size San Angelo area, to be scoured and merchandised. of plant to handle this load. A two train scouring plant located 18 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937

pounds grease weight basis; and on scoured wool in bags the saving would be nineteen and one-half cents (19½c) per hundred pounds grease weight basis. These savings are for average shrinking wools. For heavy shrinking (70%) Plains-Panhandle wools, New Mexico wools, and clippings and tags the corresponding savings would be forty-five cents (45c) per hundred pounds on scoured wool in bales and twenty-nine and one-half cents (291/2c) per hundred pounds for scoured wool in bags. These savings are on wool consigned to the New England and Middle Atlantic States. The savings on wool shipped to the Southeastern and North Cen- tral States should be substantially greater since the Texas wool now being scoured by commission plants at Philadelphia and Bos- ton for mills in these areas must be shipped to the Atlantic Sea- board and then back into the Southeastern or North Central States. Should the wool be scoured in Texas it would be profitible to ship by barge into the North Central States. These savings should eventually redound to the benefit of the wool producer.

Shearing Sheep with Power Shears So far as is known the railroads have always applied the Class 2 rate to scoured wool either in bags or in bales. A recent request by San Angelo parties for a commodity rate, less than the Class on the Houston Ship Channel with Port Terminal Railroad, truck- 2 rate, on scoured wool was refused by the Executive Committee ing, and water shipping facilities, is estimated to cost $175,000.00. of the Southwestern Freight Bureau. The present rate on wool in Working capital in the amount of $25,000.00 is also required, grease in bags from Del Rio and San Angelo to Houston-Galves- making a total estimated investment of $200,000.00. Should it ton is fifty-two cents (52c) per hundred pounds. The rail and develop that carbonizing were necessary or profitable, an additional water rate on wool in grease in bags from Del Rio and San Angelo investment of $50,000.00 would be entailed for the installation of to the Atlantic Seaboard is one dollar and eighteen cents ($1.18) carbonizing equipment. The cost of scouring, including direct per hundred pounds, being made up of the fifty-two cents (52c) operating expenses, overhead expenses, and depreciation on building rate to Houston-Galveston, two cents (2c) port charge, and sixty and equipment, is estimated at one and one-half cents (1½c) per four cents (64c) for water shipment from Houston-Galveston pound of raw wool, based on the scouring of 6,000,000 pounds the Atlantic Seaboard. The Class 2 rail rate, which is the present per annum. rate on scoured wool to Houston-Galveston, is one dollar and thirty- The charge for scouring Texas wools is standardized at two three cents ($1.33) per hundred pounds from San Angelo and one dollar and forty-two cents ($1.42) from Del Rio. The savings cents (2c) per pound. After deducting the one and one-half cents on shipping scoured wool would therefore be thirteen cents (13c) (1½c) per pound cost of scouring, this leaves, for return on in- from San Angelo and nine and one-half cents (9½c) from Del vestment, one-half cent (1/2c) per pound or $30,000.00 per annum Rio per hundred pounds, grease weight basis. for scouring 6,000,000 pounds. The investor should be prepared to forego any return on his investment during the period when It is to be noted that the maximumsaving in freight on the plant is being built, efficient and economical operating routines established and the business developed. The estimated earnings of coast-wise shipments is to be secured by compressing the scoured wool into bales. Scoured wool is shipped coastwise in both bales the plant are predicated on efficient management, capable of se- and bags from San Francisco, this being the only point" from curing the confidence of the trade in the quality of the service which any substantial amount of scoured wool is shipped coast- rendered, of economically operating the plant, and if necessary, of wise to the Atlantic Seaboard. The baling of the scoured wool does successfully merchandising the wool. not harm the fibers in any way; however, many of the merchants It is estimated that at least forty per cent of the wools and mills object to the baling of scoured wool by reason of the scoured in a Texas plant would be consumed in the Southeastern fact that the compressing in bales causes the wool to lose "loftiness." and North Central States, and that not over sixty per cent would In a few mills it might be necessary to run the baled wool through be consumed in the New England and Middle Atlantic States. an opener prior to carding. Otherwise, the baling of the scoured There would be a material saving in freight, on Texas scoured wool should not cause any inconvenience once the mill becomes wool, accruing to the shipper of scoured wool to these consuming accustomed to the use of scoured wool in bales. areas, i. e., as compared with the cost to the shipper of shipping In addition to the saving to the shipper in freight costs, a the wool in the grease. The present freight rate for shipping wool wool scouring plant with port facilities on the Houston Ship in the grease in bags from Houston and Galveston to the Atlantic Channel would have the further advantage of a saving, in hauling Seaboard (Philadelphia, New York, Boston) by water is sixty-four cents (64c) per hundred pounds. The corresponding rate costs from dock to plant and from plant to dock or warehouse, scoured wool in bags is one dollar and fifteen and one-half cents of from ten to twenty cents per hundred pounds, this cost being incurred on a large part of the wool scoured at Boston and Phila- ($1.15 ½) per hundred pounds, this being the Class 2 rate and not delphia. For coastwise shipments of wool scoured in transit at a commodity rate. There is now no commodity rate on scoured Philadelphia there is also a three cents (3c) per hundred pounds wool compressed in bales from Houston and Galveston to the At- scouring in transit charge. Costs of labor, soft water, and gas at lantic Seaboard. The only appreciable amount of scoured wool in Houston compare very favorably with the costs at Boston and bales now being shipped coastwise to the Atlantic Seaboard is Philadelphia, these costs accounting for a major portion of the from San Francisco, the rate being the same, one dollar and thirteen expense of operating a scouring plant. Other than the conservatism cents ($1.13) per hundred pounds, for both scoured wool in bales of many of the Summer Street wool merchants, the only material and grease wool in bags. It is assumed that Galveston and Houston disadvantage of a wool scouring plant at Houston would be the would receive like treatment in the matter of rates on scoured greater time required to deliver the scoured wool from scouring wool in bales and that the rate to the Atlantic Seaboard on scoured plant stores to mills in the New England and Middle Atlantic wool in bales would be the same as the rate on grease wool in bags, States. This disadvantage would be serious only in the case of mills viz., sixty-four cents (64c) per hundred pounds. requiring samples of several bag lots of scoured wool for test pur- Based upon the foregoing rates the saving to the shipper on poses. Houston would have an offsetting advantage in much of the scoured wool in bales from Houston to the Atlantic Seaboard Southeastern and North Central areas, where perhaps half of the would be thirty-nine and one-half cents (391~c) per hundre4 Texas scoured wool could be sold. November, 19 3 7 H 0 u s t 0 n P 0 R T B 0 0 K 19 Houston’s Relationship to the Cities of the Great Southwest

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

By J. c. DEAL Manager, Board o/ City Development

The tenth o] a series o] articles showing Houston’s relationship to other cities ot the Great Southwest. Someother city will be covered in the next issue o] the Houston Port Book.

’IcE-PRESIDENTJohn N. Garner often in Congress suggested But two of the greatest resources of San Angelo, situated as that Texas could divide itse!f into two and perhaps five it is in the Texas county, Tom Green, which boasts "the most V states if it desired. And if it exercised that privilege, pre- miles of running streams," and blessed with an equable moderate served when it entered the Union, San Angelo might become the temperature, are its offerings to recreation and health seekers. capital of West Texas, and assuredly--if there were five new states The established San Angelo trade territory, covering an area carved from the one---it would become the governmental center larger than the state of Ohio, is the home of 500,000 cattle, virtu- of the 24-county empire of 40,875 square miles and some 200,000 ally all of them well-blooded Herefords which furnish millions of souls of which it is the commercial capital already. steak dinners for Americans each year. In case of such an eventuality, far-fetched though it may San Angelo is the greatest inland wool concentration point in seem now, the ~’STATE OF SAN ANGELO" has the natural resources, the world, the site of numerous vast warehouses which handle most vast and still virtually just scratched, to insure a satisfying inde- of the 47,000,000 to 55,000,000 pounds of wool that the 6,000,- pendence and a continually expanding trade with the rest of the 000 sheep in the "State of San Angelo" produce each year. nation and the world. And there would be space to grow, expand, make money, live. And Angora goats, numbering 2,500,000, produce in this territory an annual crop of as much as 12,000,000 pounds of mo- Cattle, sheep and goats--in the production of which this "STATt~ hair-80 per cent of the mohair grown in the United States. OF SAN ANaELO"leads the nation--are seeing rapidly developing rivalry in cotton, oats, wheat, grain sorghums, and other crops of When the names of Cecil Smith, Rube Williams, Frank House the field. Already the aggregate income from oil, discovered in the and other high-handicap polo players are mentioned, association Big Lake field 15 years ago, but still comprising some of the is brought to mind with the fine polo ponies, race horses, jumping world’s greatest oil reserves, as in the vast Yates field in Pecos horses, and other blooded horses and ponies raised in the San An- County, has surpassed the agricultural income in many of the gelo territory. From here go some of the highest-priced sport ani- counties. Geologists insist--and their beliefs are being borne out mals in the nation. West Texas horses are internationally famous each month--that this section’s mineral resources have just been for their stamina, speed and intelligence. Half the nation’s polo tapped. Potash, discovered in oil well corings in a dozen counties, ponies and a large proportion of its army horses are Texas bred offers a potential mineral development which some day may bring and trained. the lease and royalty checks that petroleum furnishes today. The beautiful Head of the River Ranch, near Christoval, home of the Rainbow Polo Club, members of which now are partici- pating in some of the major polo games in the East and on the West Coast, is an example of a West Texas cattle and sheep ranch which has become noted as well for its prized polo ponies. This year six counties in the immediate San Angelo section are producing a $2,000,000 harvest of wheat and oats alone, with additional millions coming from grain sorghums and still more millions due in the fall from cotton. Several counties in this section rank with the state’s leading cotton producing counties. On many farms this winter and early spring thousands of head of sheep were grazed on wheat and oat fields which subse- quently were closed and left to develop harvests of those small grains which surpassed the best yields in the Panhandle-Plains area a few years ago. Production of 30 to 40 bushe’s of wheat and 50 t~) 67 bushels of oats per acre was common,this spring. San Angelo’s climate is one of the greatest advantages, a nun> ber of years ago gaining for it U. S. Army ranking as "the most healthful city in the nation." The city has an altitude of 2,000 feet, a climate that is mild and invigorating throughout the winter months and a summer temperature that is free of oppressive maxi- mums. Nights are cool and refreshing, both in the valleys of the A section of the business district of San Angelo. North, South, Middle, and Main Concho Rivers and Spring and 20 Houston PORT BOOK November, 1937

South ConchoRiver, one of three sprlng-fed streams Jeeding into Lake Nosworthy, San AnKelo’s water supply.

Dove Creeks, some of the streams which course through the county, and on the hillsides where most of the ranch homes are located. With the dearth of rainy seasons and its dry exhilarating at- mosphere, San Angelo is a haven for those who suffer from pul- The National Bank of Com- monary troubles. The State Tuberculosis Sanatorium is located 17 miles northwest of San Angelo. merce provides a modern, Three large hospitals and two well-equipped clinics, a’l re- cently expanded and improved, provide adequate medical service prompt banking service for for San Artgelo and its large territory. Recreation in all its forms is found here--fishing, boating, those doing b u s i n e s s in swimming,golf on three fine grass-green courses, horseback riding, polo playing, aviation, hiking into the hills and along the streams, and hunting. San Angelo is the gateway to the Hill country and and through the Port of the Big Bend and Highland country where the Southwest’s best deer, turkey and quail hunting is to be enjoyed. Houston. Its facilities em- The West Texas Museum, housed in Old Fort Concho, pioneer army post, is a major attraction to tourists. There are numerous brace every phase of bank- other historical and scenic points of interest to be visited. A few hours drive from San Angelo are picturesque ranches, ing service for the efficient some of them now including game preserves. A like distance away are the oil fields, lighted at night by gas flares and humming24 handling of your banking hours a day with activity as the earth gives up its black gold. Wholesale stores supplying the vast trade territory of the requirements. "State of San Angelo" are located here. Three national banks make San Angelo the financial capital of West Texas, the city containing more money than any West Texas community between Fort Worth and E1 Paso and between Amarillo and San Antonio. And in the heart of the San Angelo territory is Crockett County, whose citizens are gauged by the government as the wealthiest people, per capita, in the United States. Numerous fine churches, substantial school buildings and a school system which ranks at the top scholastically, including the growing San Angelo College, a junior institution with full South- ern accrediting, are among the assets of the city. NATIONAL BANK Six paved highways and even more hard-surfaced county roads lead out of San Angeto as arteries of commerce linking this city with the territory it mothers. Current completion of paving pro- jects make San Angelo a tourist center now where traffic bound in OF COMMERCE all directions meets at the crossroads of a modern, hospitable city. Railroads lead out from San Angelo in five directions and the GULF BUILDING HOUSTON, TEXAS city boasts an A-1 airport termed by leading aviators as the best natural airport in the Southwest for year-around use. Member,Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In short, San Angelo has what it takes to make a city--and what it takes to make a capital for the rich and untroubled "state" which it serves.