Corpus Christi and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

CORPUS CHRISTI AND THE GULF INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY

THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR BROUGHT THE U.S. INTO WORLD WAR II. NEW NAVAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE APPEARANCE OF GERMAN U-BOATS MEANT THAT AMERICA WAS VULNERABLE TO SEA-BORNE ATTACKS. CORPUS CHRISTI HAD OIL WHICH WOULD ALLEVIATE THE EAST COAST SHORTAGE AND HAD THE ABILITY TO SHIP OVER ONE MILLION TONS OF CARGO. WITH THE CREATION OF THE GULF INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY, SOON TO BE KNOWN AS THE CANAL, CORPUS CHRISTI BECAME AN ACTIVE AND EFFECTIVE PARTICIPANT IN WORLD WAR II BY LINKING ITS PORT TO HARBORS NORTH, SOUTH AND EAST OF TEXAS. IN 1905, CLARENCE S.E. HOLLAND CALLED FOR A CONFERENCE IN VICTORIA TO ESTABLISH AN INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY LOBBY. HE ENVISIONED A CANAL LINKING THE RIO GRANDE AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS. THE INLAND WATERWAY LEAGUE, LATER RENAMED THE INTRACOASTAL CANAL ASSOCIATION OF LOUISIANA AND TEXAS (ICALT), WAS FORMED.

IT WASN’T UNTIL 1930 THAT EASEMENTS WERE ACQUIRED TO SECURE PROPERTY FOR THE CANAL. ENGINEER GEORGE HOFFMAN’S CONCEPT FOR A LAND ROUTE WOULD PROTECT THE SHIPS FROM STORM CONDITIONS IN THE BAY, AND LATER, FROM THE ENEMY. BY 1944, THE CANAL WAS CARRYING OVER 900 OIL-LADEN VESSELS FROM CORPUS CHRISTI TO THE EAST COAST, AND BY THE END OF 1945, INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY SHIPMENTS TOTALED OVER ONE MILLION TONS. AS THE NATION ENTERED THE COLD WAR YEARS, PRODUCT WAS STEADILY MOVING OUT OF THE CANAL TO PROCESSING CENTERS IN OTHER STATES. BY THE END OF 1951, IT WAS CARRYING OVER 25% OF THE PORT OF CORPUS CHRISTI’S TOTAL TONNAGE. POPULATION ALSO INCREASED WITH THE CREATION OF THE CANAL. NUECES COUNTY GREW 80% AND CAMERON COUNTY GREW BY HALF. AT THE DEDICATION OF THE CANAL, ROY MILLER STATED, “THE CANAL IS THE WORK OF MAN’S HANDS. BUT IT IS MOST OF ALL A CREATURE OF DESTINY.”

(2012).