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Dock Management Progress Section How Successful Dock Operators Have Met Problems of Giving Best Service to Ships A section of the public wharves at Houston, Texas ouston Grows As Port Facilities Are Improved that the South’s most rapidly growing port is that of Houston, Texas, located 50 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico on a tidal stream, or bayou, which has been deepened and widened by dredging until it now forms a ship canal over 30 feet in depth and a width of 250 feet on the bottom across Galveston bay and 150 feet on the bottom in the river and bayou sections, ending in a commo- dious harbor within the city limits of Houston. The possibilities for the development of this port were realized by the late Commodore Charles Morgan, who founded. the Morgan Steamship line and operated a few shallow draft side wheel steamers up the narrow, natural channel in the early seventies. Through the co-operation of the local interests with the federal gov- ernment, the present magnificent chan- nel has been constructed at a cost of about $12,000,000 while the city of Houston and the navigation district 1 MAY not be generally known BY CAPT. CHARLES CROTTY have provided terminal facilities in the way of public wharves, storage sheds, grain elevator and a public belt rail- Im prove Dock System The rapid growth of the Port of Houston demonstrates the vital importance of port development. General cargo of great variety handled over public and private wharves increased by 800 per cent over the year 1920 to a to- tal of nearly 10,000,000 tons for 1925. Progressive leadership realizing the necessity of ready access to the sea is steadily pursuing a pol- icy of rational port deve'opment by means of public funds and by active encouragement of private enterprise. A eneseneencn road. The accompanying table shows the dimensions of the public-owned 26 facilities which have been built at a cost of approximately $7,500,000. The public belt railroad, owned by the city and navigation district, with some 40 miles of track and switches, serves all the public wharves and many of the private industries, provid- ing a direct connection with the va- rious trunk lines centering at Hous- ton, a city whose slogan is “The port where seventeen railroads meet the sea.” This public belt railroad is operated by the Port Terminal Rail- road association, whose board of con- trol consists of the chairman of the navigation district as its president, and a representative from each of the trunk line railroads connecting with the public belt road, and through this association impartial and dependable service is rendered to all lines; which has proved to be a most economical and efficient arrangement. Private industries, such as oil re- fineries, Portland cement works, fer- tilizer works, flour and rice mills, chemical works, steel fabricating and