HURRICANES ON THE COAST OF TEXAS 4-1:5 



enormous loss of life and property which was caused b}' the advance 

 of the last West India hurricane. 



It is simply m}^ wish to reenforce Professor McGee's cautions by 

 alluding to another chapter in the hurricane history of the Texas 

 coast, concerning which his article is strangely silent, but with which 

 I chance to be somewhat familiar. Reference is made to the hurri- 

 cane of September 15-16, 1875, which caused a relatively greater loss 

 of life and ])roperty to the town of Indianola, Texas, than was in- 

 flicted on Galveston b}' the recent hurricane. A quarter of a century 

 has dimmed the recollection of the Indianola traged}^ and many of 

 the few adult survivors of that ill-fated town have i)assed over to the 

 silent majority. 



Indianola, Avhen I first knew it in 1873, was a town of about 1,500 

 inhabitants, but it was then waning in population, so that at the 

 time of the storm it had a }iopulation variously estimated from 800 to 

 1,000. In the cyclone of Septftml)er. 1875, at Indianola, the loss of 

 life, as officially re|)orted by the Signal Corps observer-sergeant, was 

 176 — nearly one-fifth of the entire population — and the destruction 

 of property as exceeding one million of dollars in value. 



It should be remembered that Indianola is on the west shore of 

 Matagorda Bay, 14 miles iVom the Gulf of Mexico, a slieltered posi- 

 tion as compared witb that of Galveston. I visited Indianola al)out 

 six months after tlie hurricane, when the town Avas partly restored ; 

 V)ut at that time tliere remained evidences of one of the greatest 

 storms of the century. The striking physical clianges were the for- 

 mation of a large lake in the rear of the town and the plowing of 

 numerous bayous inland, five connecting across the solid land of an 

 elevation ranging between 10 and 20 feet above the level of Matagorda 

 Bay, on which the town was built. One of these l)ayous was nearly 

 20 feet deep at the time of my visit. 



As at Galveston, enormous quantities of sea water were driven inland 

 and the greatest damage and loss of life occurred during the ebbing 

 of the flood seaward. On the coast, at the entrance to Matagorda 

 Bay, both the east and west shoal lights were carried away. The 

 extent and violence of the storm inland may be judged by the fact 

 that at this time the schooner Afpics and the Pfxritlx were wrecked 

 two miles inland from Indianola, while the schooner Cowet was car- 

 ried five miles inland. So sudden and rapid were the flood waters 

 inland that al)()ut 15,000 head of cattle and sheep were drowned. 



The hurricane began l)y a northeasttjrly gak;, which set in on the 



