The Junior Historian, Volume 27, Number 4, January 1967 Page: 6
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THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN
every dollar spent for construction,
maintenance, and operation. It has paid
for itself not only in savings but in amount
of growth of the area as a direct result of
the canal.The cities of the Gulf Coast have
prospered greatly because of the presence
of such a canal. Many cities, which at
one time were inland cities are seaports,
able to harbor seagoing vessels. Holland's
own city of Victoria, situated thirty miles
inland, is now a seaport.
The population of Houston has in-
creased many times over since the
beginning of the canal. Another area
served by the canal is the triangle formed
by the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur,
and Orange, often called the "Golden
Triangle," for it is here one finds the
greatest concentration of oil refineries in
the world.
Industry and commerce have kept a
steadily-rising pace over the past years.
The petroleum industry, which is the
largest on the Gulf Coast, has increased
greatly, in part because of the canal. As
much as two-thirds of the 71,000,000
tons of commerce shipped yearly by the
canal is petroleum or petroleum products.
Petroleum companies have been built in
the vicinity of the canal. Humble Oil,
Magnolia, Esso, Gulf Oil, Shell Oil, and
The Texas Company are a few of the
companies.
The Gulf Coast has progressed more
rapidly in recent years than any other
area. This progress has been in industry
and commerce. Petroleum is not the
only industry benefited by the Gulf Intra-
coastal Canal. Many new industries have
sprung up along the canal. Some of
these companies are Dow Chemical of
Freeport, Texas Gulf Sulphur of MossBluff, Aluminum Company of America
of Point Comfort, Reynolds Metals of
Corpus Christi, Union Carbide of Sea-
drift, Celanese Corporation of Bay City,
Todd Shipyards of Galveston, and E. I.
du Pont de Nemours Company of Vic-
toria.
Another of Holland's purposes was to
connect "all our deep water ports." In
1905, there was scarcely a seaport worth
mentioning. The only cities fronting the
water were small fishing villages.
In 1966, nine of the fifteen largest
seaports in total tonnage in the United
States are directly served by the Gulf
Intracoastal Canal.
Aside from these larger seaports, there
are numerous smaller ports contributing
to the economy of the area. They provide
a place for ships to anchor, a place for
ships in distress, a place for pleasure
cruisers to harbor, and perhaps of even
more consequence for the economy, it
provides sites for industry.
The Gulf Coast's water transport
system has been the key which unlocked
the door to the Gulf Coast's gold.
The growing commerce of the gulf
area will see a deepening and widening
of the main channel and the expansion
of the tributary system. Still greater
savings in transportation costs will be
seen. Construction has begun on a cross-
Florida barge canal. The Gulf Intra-
coastal Waterway will also join forces
with the Atlantic Inland Waterway to
create "a fabulous artery of transportation
more than 2,500 miles long." The canal
will also be extended into Mexico to
Tampico and Vera Cruz.
Summing up, State Representative
R. H. Cory of Victoria says:
.. the intracoastal canal is one of the most
important assets of this area ... the develop-
ment of the intracoastal canal is a matter of
prime importance to this area and will become
increasingly more so over the coming years.6
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 27, Number 4, January 1967, periodical, January 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391281/m1/8/?q=%22tex-rev%22: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.