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

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.

Green Island, nearby and lushly overgrown with forests of ebony and cactus, lures birds that ride the winds for hundreds, or even thousands of miles; flamingos from Bermuda, yellow-billed tropic birds from the Antilles come to visit. Most frequent visitors are great black-winged fliers known as frigate birds. These pirates , force, with buffeting wings, the gulls to disgorge fish in their craws, seizing the prey while still airborne.

Among Padre's most interesting birds is the small contingent of falcons that stops on or near the island instead of continuing with the mass migration to South America. These big handsome duck hawks, with bluish-grey feathers narrowly banded in black, are said to have a cruising speed of fifty miles an hour. In the downward swoop to strike their quarry, known as a "stoop," they have been clocked by pilots at speeds close to two hundred miles an hour. Many sportsmen feel it is more humane to hunt with trained falcons than guns, since the game is either killed instantly or escapes unharmed. The fact that it was not generally known falcons winter on Padre Island until recently made them comparatively safe, but their numbers are rapidly diminishing now that they are being molested.

Echelons of geese and whole hosts of many waterfowl varieties end their winter migration here. Wood ducks, the most beautiful and gentle of all, nest in the trees. Rare and almost extinct whooping cranes, huge and stately, come from Canada to spend winter months in nearby marshy areas. At the last count there were only about thirty-six of them left.

"Mr. Paisano" is the most colorful and interesting bird to inhabit the tip of Texas. He is the plucky little roadrunner, who looks as though he were assembled from spare parts. Imagine, if possible, a long striped snake on two legs, a feather duster on his head and another trailing behind. He is about two feet tall, with a tail as long as its body, a ridiculous crest, stubby wings, rarely used and blue, mocking eyes, circled with yellow rings and shaded with eyelashes a movie star might envy. He is famous for his cocky self-assured air.

Lore has it that the roadrunners surround a rattlesnake with a fence of cactus while the reptile sleeps. When the fence is completed, the snake is aroused. He frantically slashes at the fence, becoming so entangled and bedeviled by spines that he falls an easy victim. Some Mexicans, who named the bird Mr. Paisano, believe it to be good luck if he crosses the path from left to right, and bad luck if he crosses in the opposite direction.

For ages Laguna Madre has sheltered myriad varieties of fish and shellfish, providing bounteous banquets for wildlife frequenting her shores.

Among the animals native to Padre are 'possum, jackrabbits, ground squirrels and pocket gophers. The days of the Padre coyote are limited due to encroaching civilization. People along the border swear the coyotes are fish eaters, also, and use their tails for fishing.

Once the colorful little Padre coyotes claimed top billing in a widely publicized coyote hunt. Accompanied by newspapermen and cameramen, under the direction of Dr. J. A. Jockaday of Port Isabel, five hundred men planned the hunt with the precision of military strategy. It piqued public interest like a Hollywood premiere. The coyotes were to be driven into an amphitheater to meet their destiny. The coyotes, however, outwitted their predators and only twenty-six were killed.

All along the beach, pale colored and square shelled, are the ghost crabs, skuttling across the sands, returning to their holes when danger threatens.

With a little time to leisurely explore, one can roam the island and peek into intimate secrets of Padre's wildlife.

Padre Island itself is easily accessible by car, train, plane, boat or bus. Flying in, one can land at Brownsville International Airport , Corpus Christi Airport , Padre Beach Airport at Port Isabel, near the southern point of the Island.

Three causeways are now in use and another is being planned. At Corpus Christi, one may reach the island over the scenic Nueces County Causeway. From Port Isabel to the island, one mounts the three million dollar, two and one-half mile long Queen Isabella Causeway. Oldest of the three causeways is a wooden one which hops along the chain of islands from the mainland city of Aransas Pass, the Mustang Island community of Port Aransas, famous fishing haven. The fourth causeway is being planned to cross the Laguna Madre from Port Mansfield.

In the not too distant future, a scenic paved, multi-million dollar highway, reaching the full length of Padre Island, is in prospect. Travel from the northern end to the southern end of Padre is recommended on the mainland United States Highway 77 southward toward Brownsville, and then along Texas Highway 100 to Port Isabel and over the Queen Isabella Causeway to the island.

The Padre Island beach facing the Gulf provides a beautiful scenic drive during normal tides at both the north and south ends. It is impossible, however, to drive the full length of the island because of a channel near the center that divides the island into two parts.

"Where the wind blows, the oil flows, the cotton grows, and it never snows," is the colorful slogan of CORPUS CHRISTI, famous for its booming industry, beautiful Ocean Circle Drive, airfields, and mansion-studded beaches. A United States Naval Air Station, one of the largest in the world, is here, as are Del Mar College and the University of Corpus Christi.

As a cultural center, Corpus Christi frequently assumes a Parisian air when writers and artists convene in this sunny city. The CORPUS CHRISTI JUNIOR MUSEUM is fun for children. Here for the children is a colorful collection of Indian relics and Padre Island shells. There are also many other fine museums.

Only an hour's drive from Corpus Christi is the ARANSAS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE at Austwell, which offers sights of the nation's wildlife in its own habitat; birds and game abound. Even the whooping crane sleeps here during the months from November to April.

ROCKPORT and FULTON BEACH, in the Corpus Christi area, are famous resort cities, aristocratically adorned with lovely wind-bent oak trees. In nearby GOOSE ISLAND STATE PARK is a MARINE LABORATORY and AQUARIUM.

The Annual Tarpon Rodeo has made nearby PORT ARANSAS famous, and visitors have been introduced to its fine restaurants, noted for their seafood.

Leaving Corpus Christi, Highway 77 cuts through Kingsville, headquarters of the fabulous KING RANCH of nearly a million acres, where roam eighty-five thousand head of cattle. The acquisition of this huge acreage was begun in 1853 by Richard King, one of the early steamboat captains who navigated the Rio Grande. Here was developed the only breed of cattle originated in the Western Hemisphere--the King Ranch Santa Gertrudis breed. Inside the fifteen hundred miles of fencing are some three hundred windmills. The ranch is famous, also, for breeding thoroughbred horses, two of which, Assault and Middleground, have been Kentucky Derby winners. The Texas College of Arts and Industries, one of Texas' finest, is in Kingsville, too.

Settlement of the lush Rio Grande Valley was first undertaken in the late eighteenth century, when the Count of Sierra Gorda, Escondon, brought settlers into this then semi-desert region of the Rio Grande delta. These were the first Europeans to attempt permanent settlement in the region. In 1767 Spain confirmed their endeavors.

From then until well into the nineteenth century, the Valley was left pretty much alone. It was the spreading empires of the cattle barons that brought the next burst of activity. In 1872 the Rio Grande Railroad, a rambling, narrow-gauge line, was completed from Port Isabel to Brownsville, and promptly put most of the river steamboats out of business, although steamers were used to take goods to Mier as late as 1886.

The coming of the main railroad from the North--the International and Great Northern--really opened the Valley up to its present prosperity. This was in 1904, and ever since the Valley has been prospering. Port Isabel became a deep water port in 1930; Brownsville followed. Harlingen was made a port with the lengthening of the Intracoastal Canal in 1951.

Poised at the entrance to the Lower Rio Grande Valley is RAYMONDVILLE, and the nearby LA SAL VIEJA, a great salt lake, which for the most of two centuries provided salt for South Texas and northern Mexico. From Raymondville it is only a twenty minute drive to the Gulf of Mexico at PORT MANSFIELD.

Once this beautiful valley setting was a tangle of thorny mesquite and cactus, but irrigation has turned it into a productive tropical resortland. The slogan of the Valley is "land of fruit, flowers and funshine." Amid nature's lavish display of grapefruit, oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines and tangelos, solemnly sit weathered old missions. Art here often takes the form of the weird figurine shapes of cactus huddling near the ground or jutting against the sky.

About two-thirds of the people in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are of Latin-American descent. As a result, the Valley is bilingual. Even stop signs read "stop" and "alto." Noted for their friendliness, the populace of the Valley is numbered around a half million.

At the scene of the first shots fired in the Mexican War sits BROWNSVILLE, largest city in the Valley, named after Fort Brown, a military establishment that was earlier named Fort Taylor. Here are battle sites marking places where General Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexicans during his victorious march through the Valley. Just outside the city is Palmetto, a site that has the distinction of being the actual last battleground of the Civil War, when three hundred Confederates stationed at Fort Brown defeated seventeen hundred Federalists who tried to capture the cotton stored in Brownsville warehouses. This was six weeks after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox; due to poor communications of the time news of the surrender had not reached Texas. Now Fort Brown serves as Texas Southmost College. The old buildings and breastworks of the fort still remain.

A gentler history of Brownsville can be experienced in the STILLMAN HOUSE, built by the city's founder over a hundred years ago and now carefully restored. In the patio of the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce sits a little locomotive, relic of the RIO GRANDE RAILROAD, first in South Texas. The CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION has survived here since 1850. Nearby, also, is the convent INCARNATE WORD, where the first nuns came in 1860. A state marker identifies the site. Brownsville's high-brows leisurely nested in the OLD VIVIER OPERA HOUSE, scene of culture and recreation until 1916.

In Brownsville, the old-world charm of the Spaniards, the exotic traditions of the Indians, the youth and industry of the Americans are blended and mingled into a unique and colorful culture. Under Spanish architecture one hears soft Castilian spoken. The strong influence of ancient Mexican-Indian cultures survives in the rich-hued dresses of the local women, colorful comic wear, quaint customs, and many spicy border dishes. Exquisite inns with modern facades nestle in lush vegetation. The PORT OF BROWNSVILLE, western terminus of the Intracoastal Canal, serves as an outlet to world markets for the South Texas and northern Mexico area.

A short distance from Brownsville is SANTA MARIA, recalling the days of its importance when river boats were the principal means of transportation along the Rio Grande. Now it is interesting because of the lovely little church built in 1880 by the Oblate Fathers.

Over the golden Queen Isabella Causeway, across from Padre Beach on Padre Island, reigns PORT ISABEL, explored by Spaniards in the early sixteenth century. Before 1800 it was settled as a fishing resort community. Its old lighthouse, built in 1852, has been preserved as a state park in the center of the city--probably the smallest state park in Texas. This historic structure was built to guide ships coming in from the Gulf of Mexico through Brazos Santiago Pass. Port Isabel still serves as a port for ships from the seven seas. Ocean going vessels constantly ply through Brazos Santiago Pass. Succulent shrimp is the commercial life of Port Isabel, which is often referred to as the "Shrimp Capital Of The World." Around the clock the shrimpers unload their valuable cargo. The city is also home of the Texas International Fishing Tournament held in August. At one time Port Isabel was designed to become a modern Venice, with channels dredged through it which may still be seen.

Turning left from Brownsville, one winds through the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where groves of Texas' famed delicacy, pink grapefruit, and hugely clustered oranges and lemons provide tempting and fragrant scenes along the highway. Also, in this tropical valley, and with little coaxing, papayas, bananas, avocados, cantaloupes, mangos, and strawberries flourish. In many of the citrus groves signs invite tourists to pick fruit at bargain prices, such as a dollar per bushel, while the rest of the nation is still trying to ward off the assaults of winter.

Here is a seventy-mile stretch of palm-lined Highway 83, framed in tropical splendor, which runs from Brownsville at the east end of the Valley to its west end, through an almost unbroken chain of cities, including La Feria, Mercedes, Weslaco, Donna, Alamo, San Juan, Pharr, McAllen, and Mission. The first stop down this main street is LA FERIA, a pleasant residential community. Then on to MERCEDES, home of the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and World Championship Rodeo. It, also, is a friendly city endowed with an abundance of flowers, where Sunrise Hill Memorial Bowl holds, for the whole Valley, sunrise Easter services in its amphitheatre. Next to Mercedes is WESLACO, central point of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and a city of modern urban charm. DONNA is the home of the South Texas Sheep and Land Exposition held during the winter months. A townsite which has been moved away from the Rio Grande after the disastrous flood of 1909, it is a city of many new civic buildings. Like a pendant in the string of Valley pearls, presides ALAMO , a city of bougainvillaea, poinsettias, and lush tropical greenery.

Just across the street is SAN JUAN, site of the beautiful NUESTRA SENORA DE SAN JUAN church, completed in 1954. Its exquisite altar was a gift from Spain.

"'Tain't far to Pharr from anywhar," is the inadequate slogan for PHARR, home of the Valley Vegetable Show, held each December. Many fruit and vegetable processing plants are here. Eleven miles southeast is the SANTA ANA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, with two inland lakes maintained for waterfowl and wildlife. Some of the two hundred eighty-eight species which have been sighted in it are considered quite rare. It is a veritable tropical jungle, with ebony trees said to be the largest in the United States.

Next comes McALLEN, "City of Palms," favorite of the tourists, and the oil and gas center of the Valley. The city is built on one of the richest natural gas deposits in Texas. Only eight miles from the border, McAllen is often called one of the gateways to Old Mexico.

MISSION, named after LOMITA MISSION, is the setting for the Texas Citrus Fiesta, a celebration glorifying the citrus industry of the state. Lomita Mission is a small chapel built in 1849. Three miles west of Mission is BENTSEN STATE PARK, which gives one an idea of how the Valley looked a half century ago--before dense brush growth gave way to irrigated farms. For many years William Jennings Bryan, the silver-tongued orator, was a nearby resident. The BRYAN HOME is two miles north of Mission.

Westward, from Mission to Rio Grande City, is a Hollywood western setting, with shrines dotting the hilltops. At the entrance to the town is Fort Ringold, famed military establishment which served as a station for Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and John Pershing. Built as a cavalry post in 1847, today Fort Ringold is the campus of the Rio Grande City High School. Near Rio Grande City stands OUR LADY OF LOURDES, a replica of the world famous shrine as it exists in the Pyrenees Mountains of southern France.

Roma opens the door to FALCON DAM, built jointly by the United States and Mexico to impound the excess waters of the Rio Grande. The dam can be crossed into Mexico without cost or formality.

NUEVO GUERRERO , the Mexican community across the dam, has an interesting story of its own. Old Guerrero, which it replaced, founded a century and a half ago, was one of the original five Escandon colonies inundated by the Falcon Dam reservoir. The Mexican government then built a new town for its residents, complete with homes, shops, schools, etc. The city resembles a house of mirrors; each home looks like every other home. Stores and public buildings are the same.

OLD ZAPATA had the same history, but the United States government provided the funds, letting the residents rebuild to each one's fancy. Thus, the growth of the two communities has been along quite different lines.

A little north of the Valley main street is EDINBURG, with a school district of nine hundred and forty-five square miles! This is the county seat of Hidalgo County and the home of Pan-American College. Each September the Whitewing Dove Fiesta is held.

Many millions of trees shade the Valley. Belle of them all is the Royal Poinciana, a gorgeous, flowering tree with deep red blossoms. More than fifteen varieties of palm trees thrive here, ranging from the three or four foot ornamental palmetto to the stately date and the majestic one hundred foot tall Royal Palms. To plant a palm is to insure a share in eternity, since palms are said to live forever.

Dozens of varieties of fruit and vegetables abound in the silt enriched sandy loam of the Valley. When the citrus orchards are in bloom, the entire region is scented with a delicate perfume-like aroma. Tropical hues are picked up in the native growth and transferred to everyday dress, making all a harmonious whole.

The Valley, actually the delta of the Rio Grande, is young. Falcon Dam, calculated to wipe out the threat of drought and to insure an ample water supply downstream, is attracting new industry. The Valley welcomes the stranger with delight. Most families were strangers, too, twenty or thirty years ago.

It's like having your cake and eating it, too! Residents and tourists on Padre Island and in the Valley can enjoy the indulgences of modern life in growing cities. Yet, if they want to take a step into the past to arrest the tempo of contemporary living, they can cross the border into Mexico's picturesque towns and villages. These border towns are the gateways to the great Mexican cities of Monterrey, Saltillo, Guadalajara, Mexico City and other interior points. Visits to the border cities are uncomplicated by red tape. Short stops are necessary at customs offices at both sides of the river.

Across the Rio Grande from Brownsville is one of the largest border towns, MATAMOROS, a wealthy metropolis of one hundred thousand people. Here, there is a beautiful modern residential section. THE FRENCH OPERA HOUSE was built a century ago at the whim of Empress Carlotta, during the French occupation of Mexico. The unusual floor was constructed to be tilted so all could see the stage, or levelled when the building served as a ballroom. As one moves off the International Bridge at Matamoros, the elaborate mansions of the Mexican cotton and oil barons dominate the landscape with their architectural blends of ultra modern and traditional Spanish design. Hundreds of curio shops invite the tourists to buy anything from a live goat to a five hundred dollar pair of boots. As in many Mexican cities, the life of the community throbs around the market place, which is afire with color. There is always activity, with strolling musicians and romantic couples. Higher than any of the other buildings, the ancient cathedrals tower mystically over the town's gaiety. In Matamoros are diversions distinctly different from any of those in the United States; exciting cockfights, famous matadors performing in the Plaza de Toros; there are concerts, attractive night clubs with excellent entertainment, restaurants serving wildgame dinners. A menu, in some of the border night clubs, for a tab of about two dollars per person, includes venison, cabrito , quail, wild duck, white-wing dove, guacamole salad, beans, fried rice and hot peppers. Then there are traditional promenades of young people in the plaza too. An afternoon at a bullfight is an unforgettable mixture of tradition and fearful thrills as matadors of Mexico and Spain compare thrusts.

PROGRESSO AND NUEVO PROGRESSO are immediately south of the Valley cities of Mercedes and Weslaco. Here cafes and curio shops beckon the tourists. A few miles to the south the city of RIO BRAVO, with its dirt streets and primitive peoples, offers a glimpse into a way of life that is rapidly vanishing.

REYNOSA is situated across the river at a point opposite McAllen, and is noted for its gay night life. From here the visitor may visit romantic Monterrey, Mexico, just three hours away over a modern paved highway. In Reynosa's central market places are examples of native crafts from all parts of Mexico; famous ceramics of Guadalajara and Puebla, painted gourd bowls and fantastic masks from Michoacan, beautiful hand-woven serapes and stoles and beautifully wrought guitars and other musical instruments from the little villages in the highly isolated wooded areas. On Sundays and special holidays bullfights are also staged.

This prosperous, bustling Mexican city was founded in 1749. Its famous Anzalduas Canal, large as a river, runs through the city parallel to the Rio Grande. Although its old cathedrals and plazas remain unchanged, Reynosa has been one of Mexico's fastest growing cities since the discovery of oil in the area.

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