Read Ebook: The Padre Island Story by Daly Loraine Reumert Pat

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Ebook has 138 lines and 14842 words, and 3 pages

We wish to thank the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Texas Game and Fish Commission, and the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce for furnishing photographs.

In our research we were aptly guided by Vernon Smylie of Corpus Christi, Texas. We wish to thank him not only for help, but for the source material he made available.

Acknowledgments vii Introduction xi First Picture Section Between xii and 1 The Lusty Past of Lady Padre 1 Glittering Graveyard 7 Tropical Ladyfinger 15 Airy Wanderers 17 Bountiful Borderland 23 Matadors and Promenaders 37 Fun Calendar 41 Second Picture Section Between 44 and 45 Playfolk and Sportsmen 45 Padre's Promise 49 Bibliography 51

As you read the following pages, we hope you can feel a bit of the primitive, swashbuckling history of Padre Island. Where once roamed savages, cavaliers, pirates, soldiers and pioneers, there now rises--out of the sand dunes--an isle which every man has pictured for himself. Tropical birds, sea shell treasures and exotic driftwood are cradled among the gleaming white sand dunes. Once in awhile the shifting sands reveal to the lucky hunter an old money cache or relic of a bygone civilization.

Padre Beach, located at the southern tip of the island, is a resort oasis of modern architecture. A National Seashore Park is being considered to preserve the virgin beauty of the center portion of the island. Multi-million dollar causeways stretch majestically over shimmering Laguna Madre to connect the island at both ends to the Texas mainland.

The world famous tropical Rio Grande Valley is Padre's luxurious neighbor, preening its giant sized fruit trees and breath-taking jungle-like flowers and palms. The civic and industrial richness of the Valley overflow into Padre to revitalize the growth and development of its beaches.

Around the corner from Padre, bordering the Valley, is the gay flavor of Mexico. Visits to the border towns are gala occasions, with little or no red tape. Dollars meet their usual welcome.

Opposite the northern tip of Padre Island is the booming city of Corpus Christi, one of the country's most beautiful coastal towns. On the mainland, beside the long stretch of the island, Texas presents its most historical and natural points of interest.

To playfolk who want year-round resort recreation; to hunters and fishermen or to treasure hunters and those interested in legends and wildlife; to retirement seekers and pioneers, and to easy-livers, the following pages will delineate the past, present and future of Padre Island and its hinterland.

First Picture Section

The ghostly etchings of past eras, traced in the mysterious sands of Padre, are a lusty view for the hardiest. Here thrived humanity at its most intense pitch. Adventure, somehow, often seeks islands in which to ferment. Here were wars, savages dueling with royalty, romances of Indian princesses, pirates' revenge, blood-soaked buried treasures, conquerors' defeats, resting places of high-spirited explorers, refuges for thieves, scoundrels, and for idealists. Their secrets nap beneath the rhythmic shifting sands.

Padre intruded into history in the 1500's, when one of the earliest explorers, and certainly one of the earliest winter tourists, Alonso Olvarez de Pi?eda, set foot on its coast to open the door to the New World. Next in the parade of travellers was Cabeza de Vaca, who stepped ashore at the southern tip of the island. La Salle and De Soto also briefly touched Padre, and even Cortez explored the island on the way to conquest.

Fierce Indians were first masters of the island. Relics of their primitive way of life have been retrieved and sent to museums throughout the country. Chief among the Indians were the terrible Karankawas, a cannibal tribe who ravaged the island at the turn of the nineteenth century. Jarring against the soft setting of aquamarine seas, white sands, and pink skies, they shot giant redfish with wildly decorated bows and arrows. They sliced their brown bodies deep into the seas, seeking food and, with glittering knives, often battling sharks. They shouted blood-tingling chants to the accompaniment of shell drums, flutes, and stone-filled gourds. To this pagan music, the painted and feathered "Kronks" danced into the whirl of three day orgies.

The woeful tale of the "Flight of the Three Hundred," to be dealt with in detail in the following chapter, reveals the plight of satin-clad cavaliers and ladies on Padre, who failed to conquer the challenge of savages and sun. Among them was Do?a Juana Ponce de Le?n, whose beauty caused men to search for the Fountain of Youth. Under the relentless sun, these castaways fled from the cannibalistic Kronks into the sand dunes of Padre, buying their lives by leaving their richly brocaded garments behind them to delay and bribe their savage pursuers. One by one they dropped, withered, into the white sands, brought down by fever, hunger, thirst and arrows.

Pirate Jean Lafitte, hero of the War of 1812, and scoundrel of the seas, held court over his renegade colony of outlaws on Padre, and added more legend to the notorious past of Lady Padre. During his reign, he amassed a fortune by preying on Spanish treasure ships. Many a sea adventurer met his death on the shores of Padre because of the treachery and cunning of these devious shipwreckers. These scoundrels would set up lights on the island to confuse the seamen's course and lure the ships into shallow waters nearby. The vessels would run aground or become wrecked, and the pirates would steal their cargo. Lafitte and his one thousand followers finally settled on Galveston Island. One day he sailed away with a handpicked crew and was never heard of again. It is said that many of the most solid, respectable family trees, just a stone's throw from Padre Island, sprouted from the buccaneers left behind.

One of the first white men to actually lay claim to the island was a Catholic priest, Padre Nicol?s Balli, who obtained sovereign right to it from the Spanish crown about 1800. He came to Padre to convert the Indians to Christianity. Father Balli then established a mission and ranch near the center of the island, calling his settlement "Rancho Santa Cruz." In 1827, to substantiate Father Balli's claim, the island was surveyed with braided rawhide cords. Padre Island became his namesake. Earlier the island had been called Isla Blanca , although the northern end was also called Isla de Corpus Christi, and the southern end San Carlos de las Malaguitas. The good Father, unfortunately, had little luck in converting the Indians. The last of the family to which Padre Balli belonged left the island in 1844.

For three years the island remained deserted, until still another episode in its colorful history unfolded with the wrecking of the three-masted schooner of the illustrious Singer family, of sewing machine fame. Captain of the ship was John Singer, brother of the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. John Singer then built a house, brought cattle from the mainland, and raised a family at Rancho Santa Cruz, the same site used earlier by Father Balli. It is interesting to note that here, on Padre Island, was used the first sewing machine in Texas, for Singer's wife was sent one as a gift from her husband's brother. John Singer reigned over the Rancho Santa Cruz village and cattle ranch until the Civil War, when, because of his Unionist sympathies, Singer was forced to leave.

The United States flag appeared over the island when Captain Ben McCulloch of the Texas Rangers galloped down the interminable beach. Often in the course of history Padre's sands have felt the footsteps of soldiers, for wars have figured generously in her past. Padre's hard sandy beach road served perfectly for the movement of troops. General Zachary Taylor's troops marched down the long slender isle and used it as a camping ground during the United States-Mexican War in 1846, as later did the Federal troops during the Civil War. General Sheridan blew apart the Singer Ranch on his way to give impetus to the French withdrawal from Mexico. As the Imperialists left Mexico, Carlotta's faithful Belgians sought refuge here on the island.

One of the most colorful figures to appear on the scene at Padre was the self-styled "Duke of Padre Island," Patrick F. Dunn . Beginning in 1879 he raised cattle on his leased, sprawling dunes and the sandy beach until well into the 1900's. Out of valuable mahogany which floated ashore, he built his famous cowpens, which are still standing, forty miles down the island, and used yet at roundup time. For his ranch headquarters he used salvaged material from shipwrecks. Steamer refrigerator hinges served as his door hinges, and his chairs were from wrecked steamers.

The southern part of the island was finally acquired through the doggedness of devoted Texan John L. Tompkins, who travelled throughout the United States securing titles from stockholders of a defunct corporation. Tompkins learned that title to the turbulent historical island had even changed hands in high-stake poker games.

Like a shimmering mirror, Padre Island has reflected its own flamboyant growth, from savages and cavaliers, buccaneers and privateers, priests and soldiers, to a rapidly growing resort and recreational area.

Lying under the warm sands of Padre Island, and beneath the waters of her coastline, lies the testimony of the island's turbulent dwellers. Beachcombers still frequently uncover these evidences. Relics of past civilizations have been laid bare by Gulf storms.

Dispatched to Spain by Cortez of Mexico in the summer of 1553, a fleet of twenty treasure ships, laden with gold, silver and gems stolen from Aztec shrines, sailed from Vera Cruz, Mexico, with about two thousand persons aboard. Among them were those mentioned earlier in the ill-fated "Flight of the Three Hundred." The ships sailed head-on into a hurricane off the Bahamas. Three were sunk, several were able to skirt the storm, but thirteen of the vessels, with approximately three hundred aboard, fled to the west and went aground on Padre Island. Most of the passengers made it safely to the beach, only to be met by the ferocious Karankawas. Without supplies, they fled southward, hoping to safely reach Tampico, Mexico. For awhile they were able to buy their lives and much needed time by bribing the savages with their beautiful garments. Unhappily, however, many met death from arrows, starvation or illness. Only a few survivors reached Port Isabel, and only one person, a priest, reached Tampico. Another survivor, Francisco Vasquez, sustained himself after discovering that fresh water could be found on Padre by digging only a shallow hole in the island sand. Vasquez directed a salvage fleet of Yucatecan Indian divers to the site of the wrecks some months later. All but one ship was found, and it was known to be loaded with Spanish doubloons and bars of gold.

In December, 1904, A. H. Meuly claims to have found the ship and marked the spot. When he returned, his markers were gone. He reported he found a deposit of gold, worth an estimated million dollars, in the skeleton of an old galleon thirty-five miles from Corpus Christi Pass. He believed the hull to be the remains of Cortez's vessel.

Devil's elbow, a strange curve in Padre Island's shore-line which faces the Gulf, is so-named because as early as the sixteenth century it had become the grounding point for many an ill-fated, floundering vessel. These ships often carried large amounts of money, in the form of gold and silver coins. When the wooden kegs carrying the coins rotted, the money was washed ashore.

Waiting for some lucky finder, the bulk of this treasure still lies imprisoned in sand dunes and the purple depths of the island's coast.

It is generally agreed there are still many large caches buried on the island. Some were secretly stashed away by pirates, smugglers and other outlaws who used the island as a rendezvous and safe hiding place. Padre was distinguished as a pirates' summer hangout. Pirates' earrings and noserings have been recovered from the sand.

Lafitte is said to have buried a fortune in gold, here on Padre, beneath a millstone with the inscribed command "Dig Deeper!" Several years ago a treasure hunting party, with a chart pinpointing a Spanish dagger plant and three brass spikes, began their search for the Lafitte treasure. Spanish dagger plants they found by the thousands but no brass spikes, and hence the cache is still waiting to be uncovered.

Lafitte dug Port Isabel's first water well to replenish his ships with sweet water. He, too, had discovered that fresh water could be found under the sand hills around Laguna Madre. The Lafitte wells are now an interesting tourist attraction.

Old English and Spanish gold and silver coins, dating back as far as the 1600's, have been unearthed, as have stacks of dollars in rusty cans, and jewelry consisting of rings, brooches, earscrews, bracelets and necklaces. Many of these treasures have been purchased by museums.

Respectable people, as well as robbers of the sea, often used Mother Earth as a safe hiding place. The owner of a buried cache often met death at the hands of Indians without having revealed to anyone the location of his valuables.

Money Hill is a sand dune reputed to be filled with a fortune of old coins, silver, gold and jewelry, hidden by John Singer. Some say that the real Money Hill is near Padre Beach, others say at the north end of Padre Island, and still others hold that it is on neighboring Mustang Island. One version has it that Singer and his young son rowed six miles up Laguna Madre from their Rancho Santa Cruz home, now referred to as "Lost City," to bury the fortune in a dune marked by two small oak trees. Regardless of which story you care to accept, the Money Hill containing the Singer fortune never has been found.

When the Singer family and their ranch hands fled during the Civil War, it was said they buried eighty-five thousand dollars in a screwtop jar along with Mrs. Singer's emerald necklace, under the foundation of the ranch home. This, too, has never been found, although Lost City itself was discovered in 1931 by Charles Hardin and a treasure hunting party. Here is his story:

I was walking across Padre Island one morning from the Gulf beach toward the Laguna, when I saw two sword handles in the sand. The blades were crossed, and the rust had welded them together. One of them had the initials "J. H." inscribed on the handle. We started digging around. Everywhere we looked we found items of interest. They were real tokens of the past.

Several English and Spanish coins and a wealth of silverware were found by Hardin's group. When the silverware was sent to New York, examined and traced, it was found to be made of coin silver by a firm that had gone out of business in 1800. Just a few inches under the sand was unearthed a blacksmith's shop, a graveyard, and campaign buttons from Taylor's Army.

Hardin explains for future treasure hunters, that although he knows the surface has changed, he is certain that the spot can easily be located again. His directions are, "Start at the jetty on the southmost tip of Padre Island, and drive up the Gulf beach exactly twenty-six miles. Then walk a little less than one-eighth of a mile, about two hundred yards, back up into the dunes."

Lost City was not a city as such, but the site of various settlements that were established over the centuries by different inhabitants. Old Padre Balli, you will recall, established his Santa Cruz Ranch here. Here it was also that General Taylor camped on his way to the Mexican War. John Singer used it as his home site, and cattle rancher Patrick Dunn also used Lost City as his headquarters.

In 1958, Charles Hardin participated in the rediscovery of Lost City with Frank Tolbert, a Dallas newspaperman. Hardin was then sixty-eight years old. They uncovered the foundations of Lost City, which were composed of monster mahogany timbers fastened together with ancient ships' iron hardware. They found a pirate-style pistol and other parts of eighteenth and nineteenth century firearms, and the head of a tomahawk. Still a mystery, however, is the eighty-five thousand dollar fortune buried in the huge screw-top jar of Singer's.

Five great ocean currents meet off the coast of Padre Island to toss back onto the white shores many interesting objects from the sea. Some of the mellowed rare woods, eagerly sought by collectors, are giant mahogany, or Spanish cedar logs, cypress, cottonwood, walnut, bamboo, gum and teak. An interesting driftwood museum has been started at Padre Beach. Coconuts, probably from the West Indies, are found at times by the thousands.

Not long ago, a man idly kicked a can along the sandy beach and, after a few moments, tiring of his sport, kicked it aside. The man behind him picked up the can and found it contained three hundred dollars worth of old coins. A woman, noticing an oddly designed box, opened it and discovered it was full of jewels. One hunter received eight hundred dollars for two silver bars and an interesting old one hundred-fifty foot chain, of the type used on ocean going vessels of years long past.

These hard-packed sands have yielded some shells of such importance that they are now in the Smithsonian Institute. Many shells are merrily named: sea pearls, sea hearts, starfish, sea pansies, sea biscuits, sharp eyes, baby's foot, jingle shells, angel wings, periwinkles and sand dollars . When a sand dollar is dried and opened, you behold five tiny structures which perfectly resemble flying seagulls. The main shell banks, Big Shell and Little Shell, are twelve miles apart. They are oceans of tiny marine shells deposited along the beach. Big Shell differs only in that it is made up of larger shells. Driving is very tricky business in this area.

A steel rod to thrust into the heart of Padre is weapon enough to reward the hunter with his own intimate glimpse of its vibrant past. The rod may only produce the false alarm sound of a buried coconut, or, maybe, it will discover the glittering loot of one who never returned.

Padre Island, the slim white ladyfinger of the Texas coastline, stretches for one hundred-ten miles, from sparkling Corpus Christi to historic Brazos Santiago Pass. Laguna Madre , a beautiful natural bay, separates the mile wide island from the Texas coast mainland. Cradled in the Gulf breezes, Padre's picturesque terrain beckons to pleasure seekers to taste its temperate climate.

Mile after mile of rolling sand dunes, which appear to be a miniature mountain range, are covered with unusual tropical vegetation. Down the center is a somewhat level plain, with another range of dunes flanking the western side of the island, which overlooks the placid Laguna Madre. Shining shell banks jewel the endless miles of white, hard sand beaches. In this virgin wilderness small rainbow clusters of wildflowers bend to the tropical Gulf breezes. Sweeping across the azure skies fly the wild birds, occasionally diving into the limpid waters to catch the silver betrayal of a luckless fish.

Padre is bordered on the north by Mustang Island; on the south by Brazos Island. Many small islands dot the adjacent Laguna such as Little Bird Island, Big Bird Island, Dead Man's Island, and Shamrock Island.

The five great ocean currents, mentioned earlier, meet at what is known as the Devil's Elbow off the center shore of Padre Island. The prevailing wind is from the southeast eleven months of the year, and from the northwest during the month of December. Normally, the Padre Island area has six light frosts a year. Its year round temperature averages 74.5?; water temperature is 69.2?; daily breeze, nine miles per hour. It lies in the general longitude of Florida.

Padre Island is an ideal winter haven for birds ... and tourists.

Great migrations of birds darken the sky on their way to Padre Island and the surrounding winter refuge area. Here you can watch stately, elegantly attired families; noisy, rollicking, irresponsible marauders; lovely, comical, natives and foreigners. Most of those that inhabit the Laguna Madre area are members of the wading tribe; dainty snowy egrets, graceful black and white stilts, dignified blue herons, reddish egrets, clownish Louisiana herons, fat, bell-mouthed pelicans, laughing gulls. More than a hundred different species may be seen here during the course of a year.

Snowy egrets dine delicately on small fish; stilts, in their tuxedo dress, are endlessly predatory. Great blue herons that stand knee deep, statuesque and immobile for hours, suddenly slash out their javelin-like beaks to come up with a silvery mullet. Louisiana herons dart ridiculously across the shallows. Along the shoreline scamper the kildeers, while a reddish egret seems to dance off his enthusiasm to ballet tunes. Formations of white pelicans chase tiny fish across the shallow water. It is surprising to see the apparently awkward brown pelicans dive like efficient machines. West Indian Negroes claim they have seen these birds seize fish six or eight feet under water. Soaring with what seems like a single wingbeat against the sky, the gulls and terns, airy wanderers all, shed their earthbound clumsiness to marvelously graceful flight.

During May, June and July, the serious business of housekeeping begins. The birds begin to prepare for nesting to put on gaudy plumage or handsome wedding garments. They temporarily abandon the heavens. With noisy disharmony, they act out one of nature's greatest dramas, the perpetuation of the species. On Padre itself, and on small nearby islands in the Laguna, as well as in certain areas along the coast of the mainland, they nest side by side and squawk and squabble as they raise their young.

One's first sight of such a nesting place is a vivid experience. On the sand and shell of the beach lie the speckled eggs of shearwaters and terns. In the low-growing brush are nests of ibis, egrets, spoonbills and herons. Pelicans pick the more open portions of the islands to hatch their young in nests that are little more than flattened places in the grass. When flying into these areas in a small plane, as research workers often do, birds retreat in stampedes.

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