Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: emike123 on January 02, 2014, 07:37:13 PM
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The story of the barges in Buffalo Bayou (downtown Houston) is a great one. Several distinctive shell types come from recovery efforts there earlier in the 20th century and then on a Sunday morning around 1968 with a bucket dredge and permission. One of the 1968 salvegers told me that the bottom is now covered with brick from some illegal construction dumping. Given that it takes a rare tidal phenomenon, permission, there is now debris on the bottom, and we are talking about setting up on a major bridge in downtown Houston, its unlikely more work will be done to recover what is in the drink there, but here are two distinct types of Reads that come from there. I am not aware of other read types from there, but I am aware of Prestons/Brittens that are pretty much unique to there and also some roundballs. I think there was a CS arsenal in the immediate vicinity, but I'd love to hear from folks who can add to my memories of the history.
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Note the distinctly different sabots -- left one is thick with a thick carved or cast flame groove and the other is much finer with thin flame grooves cut as if with a hacksaw blade.
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what diameter are they ??
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They are 3in shells.
One of many stories about this site, complete with map! Unfortunately, this one is intertwined with a bit of an unrelated, save of the location, tragedy, but there is a lot of otherwise interesting information in here as well.
http://open.salon.com/blog/gypsyrose1972/2011/02/26/the_donnellan_crypt_downtown_houston
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The Houston Ordnance Works was just up the street. I have pics of the stuff dredged from there at the office.
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Here are the shells from Buffalo Bayou that Dean and I got to see while in Houston. These and a bunch of other cool stuff from the bayou is at the historical society.
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BTW, you can read all about the Houston Ordnance Works in the upcoming volumes of CALOD ... (Confederate Arsenals, Laboratories, and Ordnance Depots)... pages 495 - 508. ;D
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When are my copies shipping?!?!
I'll try to check that historical society out when i am in Houston later this month. Is it downtown too?
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Also, I think you guys said Anderson, TX was a neat town to visit as if it hadn't changed since the war. Is that the place?
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Mike, there is some cool stuff in the Houston historical society collection. It is not typically open to the public so you will have to look them up and make an appointment. Anderson, TX is definately a town out of the pages of a history book, but the laboratory site is a few miles out of town...and not where the way-side marker is located either. Track down Gary Wiggins for a tour. While in that area, you should also check out the Smyth County historical society in Tyler.
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Mike does this look familiar?
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Came from the same group as the nicer of the two Reads above. There was a Britten and a Preston too just like in Jim's pic. I guess the '68 dredgers divvied up things so each got a representative grouping. No telling what all is still down there.
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interesting.
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Wow, Jim, I just spent about an hour on the phone with Gary Wiggins talking about a visit. He volunteered to take me all over the Southeastern end of Texas, and basically said I'd be SOL without his guidance (relating how you guys got pulled over by a cop wondering what you guys were doing stomping around out in the boonies at the Dance Bros & powder lab site at Anderson -- something you haven't told us). He could not have been nicer, and I learned a ton.
In addition to all the history, I learned that a visit to Anderson is a full day expedition for him as well as me and so I think that's a lot to ask, not being blesse with your New Jersey chutzpah ;) And it sounds like there is not much left to see other than the site, the hill where the magazine stood and the quaint town that I could see pretty much on my own without making him drive 5 hours roundtrip to show me around. That said, he seemed willing.
He then told me we should instead head a couple hours in clear the opposite direction down to Brazoria County to see the original Dance Brothers factory site and home (still standing) along with a bunch of earthworks and other stuff down in West Columbia County. This sounds like the making for a future forum roadtrip!
Finally, he gave me the names of places in Houston that are way easier to get to and can be done on my own. A building from the original Houston Ordnance works has been converted into a pub (right up my power alley)
http://houstorian.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/foley-house/
...and he suggested the Museum of Southern History (used to be called the Confederate Museum before PC resulted in a name change).
http://www.hbu.edu/About-HBU/The-Campus/Facilities/Morris-Cultural-Arts-Center/Museums/Museum-of-Southern-History/Weapons-Room.aspx
Al in all a good tip for me to reconnect with Gary. Thanks Jim.
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Mike, if you are taking reservations for a road trip sign me up for shotgun! The spin up has all my favorite elements, history,relics and drinking and eating! When are we going?
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Would love to get you back in the relic rotation, Gary. Meanwhile I just drove my daughter back from Albuquerque this weekend and so have been offline. She did not even let me stop at Wilson's Creek which we passed right by :-(
Gary W. did send me this picture of Dance revolver factory parts and tools recovered up around Anderson. He did a nice job with it.
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Gary just sent me this picture of the late 1960s operation at the bridge described above. It wasn't a dredge but a bucket you can see in the background that they used and dumped out the material on screens. Here are a couple of Houston's finest looking at the finds.
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I wish I would have looked at this post again before I was in Huston. Was There for a meeting in June and had Buffalo Bayou in the back of my mind! Let's take a road trip! Gary
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You cant go without me your honor. No good judge goes without a bailiff. I could pass for one I think.
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True That! Maybe we can do a caravan! Whoops no such thing exists!
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::)