pelled by steam or horse-power. This Bradburn is the same who afterwards was accused of oppressing the Texan Colonists to a degree which caused them to rise in rebellion and make the effort for independence. Bradburn is buried on the hill three miles south of Mission on which is now built the Oblate Fathers' Theological Seminary.

During the month of June, 1846, while General Taylor was still encamped on the Lower Border, Maj. John Saunders, an engineer in the U. S. Army, employed Mifflin Kenedy, an. experienced seaman, to assist him in his work of selecting suitable boats for Rio Grande river traffic. Major Saunders purchased the steamboats Corvette, Colonel Cross, Major Brown, and Whiteville which, under Captain Kenedy's guidance were brought to the Rio Grande and rendered valuable service in transporting General Taylor and his staff to Ringgold Barracks. Afterwards M. Kenedy & Company, of Brownsville brought out the steamboats Comanche, Grampus, Alamo, Ranchero, Camargo, Paisano, Matamoros No. 1, Matamoros No. 2, and numerous others. Later the John Scott, San Roman, Sellers, Alice, Jesse B, Eugenio, Antonia, and others were introduced. All of the boats mentioned served in the Rio Grande, and most of them still lie in the river. The Corvette, which transported General Taylor, lies in the bed of the river about 500 yards west of the International bridge where her ribs may be seen during low water. Three of the old timers were sunk just about where the present St. L. B. & M. Ry. is constructed, and they proved of another and important secondary service in preventing the encroachments of the river and serving as a shield for the bank against its fierce floods during high water. These boats were all used as freighters between Brownsville and the mouth of the river; and those of sufficiently light draught as far as Ringgold Barracks.

LOUIS COBOLINI, whose photograph appears herein, was born on December 13, 1846, in Capodistria, Austria. He landed in the United States and State of Texas, August 17, 1867. Came to Brownsville first in 1874 as Captain of the Schooner Henry Williams. Moved to Brownsville June 15, 1907. From the day of his arrival he has been a firm believer in and a conscientious hard worker for deep water on the Brazos de Santiago bar, and has given his best efforts to the attainment of deep water.

During the year 1876, some controversy having arisen with Mexico over the numerous depredations that had been made by Mexicans from Mexico on Texas soil, and an American named Cutting, who had been arrested and thrown into prison at Ciudad Juarez opposite El Paso, Uncle Sam dispatched to Fort Brown, via the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande, the 4th-class TUB, U. S. S. Rio Bravo, converted into a 4thclass warship. Upon her infant trip to Santa Maria, 26 miles west of Brownsville by land but about 100 miles via the crooked river, she blew up one of her boilers (directly beneath the office of the author who was serving as Ship's Yeoman) and unable to proceed, availed herself of the extraordinarily high stage of the river and floated back. After remaining tied to the Texas side of the Rio Grande, directly in front of the quartermaster's building in Fort Brown, she was sunk about four hundred yards south, her hull to act as a breakwater. During a low stage of the river her skeleton may yet be seen.

For many years prior to 1872, the water on the bar at the mouth of the Rio Grande had been so shallow that all freight had been brought in through Brazos de Santiago Pass, where at all times there has been not less than 9 feet, and sometimes as many as 12 feet. At Brazos all boats drawing more than 5 feet were unloaded and their cargoes transported to Point Isabel from whence they would be shipped by wagon to Brownsville.

During the year 1872 the little Rio Grande Railroad was completed and for a while it transported all freight from the Point; but finally, claiming they were compelled to pay excessive rates for such a short haul, enterprising citizens of Brownsville and Matamoros reestablished the old time "FAST FREIGHT" wagon transportation in competition with the railroad.

However, all freight, prior to 1872, would come via Brazos or the mouth of the river, where Clarksville then nestled in the sandhills.

After the yellow fever epidemic of 1882 which ravaged Brownsville and Matamoros, the Lower Valley became isolated from the rest of the United States, and became an independent republic in itself.

From 1882 to 1904 but little was known of this historical country, though occasionally in the daily press of the State one would read "The Steamship Manteo" or the "Tugboat Luzon" had just arrived from Brazos. These two light dr^1ght steamers supplied the Valley with its all.

Another factor which assisted to change the tide of transportation was the construction of a railroad from Corpus Christi to Laredo and thence to Monterrey where it connected with the main line of the Mexican National, running south to Mexico.

Up to 1882, Brazos had been the port of entry for not only the Valley supplies but for all goods destined as far northwest and west as the States of Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas. When the new railroads were put into operation, there being no railroad from Brownsville to Monterrey, water traffic to Brazos, except for local supplies for the Lower Valley, became practically dead.

Prior to 1882, the Gulf of Mexico, off Brazos de Santiago and the mouth of the Rio Grande was constantly speckled with large and small steamships from all points of the globe. It was not uncommon to see from thirty to forty large steamships each month. During the years 1861 to 1867, frequently more than 200 vessels were off the mouth of the river. At Matamoros, large wagons capable of stowing six or eight tons, drawn by from 10 to 20 animals were common sights; while the principal plaza of Matamoros, Arreros, was usually packed with these large wagons. All of this was changed

when quick railroad transportation cut off Brownsville. So, it was not until 1905, when the Mexican National completed its line to Matamoros from Monterrey that once more Brownsville took her place as a port of entry.

In June, 1904, the St. L. B. & M. Railroad completed its line to Brownsville. Not long afterwards it was discovered that in an obscure corner of the U. S. Treasury there remained a small balance due to the Brazos de Santiago Harbor Improvement fund, left over from an appropriation which had been made and almost all expended in 1882 in an effort to deepen the Brazos bar. This fund was resurrected, the amount, $58,000 was promptly thrown into the pockets of the dredge company which, in turn, excavated $58,000 of dirt and dumped it at other places in the bay from where it (the first) soon found its way back to its original bed. As an additional stimulus to direct the dirt back to its home, the LUZON was permitted to sink at the end of the little wharf, to form a nucleus for a bar from whence the channel might fill.

Brazos de Santiago bar and the once-busy little towns within three miles of it, are now deserted. During the year 1876, the Steamship Wm. G. Hughes of the Morgan Line pulled over the bar drawing 11 feet. She struck the bar at first because there were but 10 feet 7 inches, but eventually she worked in.

An ideal harbor might be made out of the basin just west of Brazos, Clarks' and Dyers' islands where for a space of three miles north to south, and one and a half miles east to west, exists a natural basin which with dredging would anchor many tons of shipping.