Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas. Page: 239 of 1,110
vii, 9-1011 p. incl. ill., ports. : ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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IISTOR Y OF DA LLAS COUNTY.
Mr. McGarvey was induced to steam up
the Trinity to )allas, for the sum of $500,
paid him by the citizens of Dallas. After
this ioWat remained at Dallas for many days,
several of the citizens of Dallas took a trip
down tile Tritity in it as far as 3Mount East
Fork. McGarvey, as he progressed on this
trip, discour ed to tile citizens how the channel
of the rivershlould be cleaned out in order
to make the river navigable. On reaching
Bois d'Are island, about thirty miles by
water of the two chutes that surrounded thie
irlanti. McGarvey recommended that tie main
raft should not be interfered with, but that
one chutlt should be closed and the other
ojwstld. It vwas so done, and it lhas ever
sitce lorne tie name of' McGarvey's Pass."
After this the citizens became very enthu~iustie
over the navigation of the Trinity
river, and a boat was built and launched in
IS,9. with dimensions eighty-seven feet in
length, by eighteen wide. It bore tie name
of , Srtlie nlaynes , nat ed after Mrs. Goveruor
itarnett; Gibbs. daughter of Mr. HIaynes,
ote of the leading merchants of tleo city,
tOwn thu t1*le of Dallas, and oin of the most
l.4autiful young ladies of Texas.
SubJqIMJtently a ,memorial was circulated over
the counties bordering on the Trinity, between
lh11^ and the Galveston, asking the le gislature
to mke. an apl)ropriation of $ o, 000 to
tinmo'te thl ob)itructions troml tile river, overhutiging
tillIr, etc. Thi mllemorial was
$^v1. in the hands of thlo Internal Improvemertt
(tomupntiv, during Governor Edmntlid
j. I)avib aidlnititration, atud a bill was preun
!pared to meet thle wishes of these citizens;
but the legislature at that time being wild on
railroad building, the bill, to use Colonel W.
C. Woltfs language, " fell asleep in the hands
of the committee, and has slept until this
day."
A memorial was also presented to the
members of tile constitutional convention at
the city of Austin, Texas, in 1869, of which
the following is a copy:
To the IHonorable P'resident and members
of the Constitutional Co7vention, now inl
session at the city of Austien:
"Your nmenorialists, citizens of the county
of Dallas, respectfully represent to your
honorable body that the recent arrival of the
steamboat Job Boat No. 1, Captain J. II.
MeGarvey, master, at the town of Dallas,
establishes the fact that tile Trinity river may
be successfully navigated from tile city of
Galveston to the town of Dallas for six months
annually, by tile expenditure of a small sum
of money in removing snags, leaning timber,
and other obstructions between the town of
Dallas and tlhe mouth of East fork. An
experienced steanmboatman of twenty years'
)ractic has proposed to citizens of Dallas
county to remove all the obstructions in tlhe
river between the above designated points, so
that boats of sufficient capacity to carry five
hundred bales of cotton can be run on the
river to Dallas for four months in the year, for
the sum of live thousand dollars in specie.
A project lpromisilg advantages so great to
every department of industry andl enterprise
should ldemtandt tle especial attention, not
only of the people of Dallas county, but of
tlhe whole State. The bonetits flowing to tile
people of I)allas county from the success of
such an enterprise are not to be measured or
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Lewis Publishing Company. Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County, Texas., book, 1892; Chicago, Illinois. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20932/m1/239/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Public Library.