The Great Galveston Disaster / Containing a Full and Thrilling Account of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times Including Vivid Descriptions of the Hurricane and Terrible Rush of Waters; Immense Destruction of Dwellings, Business Houses, Churches, and Loss of Thousands of Human Lives; Thrilling Tales of Heroic Deeds; Panic-Stricken Multitudes and Heart-Rending Scenes of Agony; Frantic Efforts to Escape a Horrible Fate; Separation of Loved Ones, etc., etc.; Narrow Escapes from the Jaws of Death; Terrible Sufferings of the Survivors; Vandals Plundering Bodies of the Dead; Wonderful Exhibitions of Popular Sympathy; Millions of Dollars Sent for the Relief of the Stricken Sufferers

by Paul Lester

PLAN TO PROTECT GALVESTON.

Can the city of Galveston, almost obliterated by the recent storm, be protected from all future assaults by the Gulf?

Colonel Henry M. Robert, United States Corps of Engineers, and divisional engineer of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, who is stationed here at present, says that Galveston can be absolutely protected from every storm by a sea wall built along the Gulf front.

Colonel Robert, during the late spring, while on a visit to Galveston, suggested a comprehensive plan for the improvement, of that harbor, which was hailed by the city and State as solving the problem of the creation of a great port in Galveston Bay. This plan would also afford a great measure of protection to the city from inundation on its northern and southwestern sides should a strong wind from the Gulf pile up the water on the shallow floors of Galveston and West bays.

Colonel Robert’s plan contemplates the construction of a great basin for harbor purposes, as well as for dry docks, to the northwest of the city. The basin would be formed by a retaining wall shutting out Galveston and West bays, and by filling in the parts of the Gulf floor between this retaining wall and the walls or shores of the basin.

The northern retaining wall would follow generally the line of the south jetty, and a deep water channel of twenty-five to thirty feet would be left between the new land and the city of Galveston, connecting the channel formed by the jetties with the inner basin. Pelican Island would be the backbone of the made land, and all of Pelican Flats would be transformed into solid land, to be used for railway and docking purposes.