Whale
gave Port
Arthur’s
economy boom
in early
1900’s
By W. T.
Block
Reprinted
from Beaumont
Enterprise,
Saturday March
6, 1999.
NEDERLAND—On
March 10,
1910, the
strangest
sight ever to
be witnessed
in the ship
channel
arrived in
Port Arthur.
The steam
tugboat
Florida towed
a sperm whale,
63 feet long
and 65 tons of
weight, to
town to be put
on display.
Two
days earlier,
Capts. Cott
and Fred
Plummer had
found "Moby
Dick" ensnared
in the ‘oil
pond,’ and
after a
difficult
struggle, they
succeeded in
looping an
8-inch hawser
around the
whale’s giant
fluke.
News
of the whale’s
capture, the
biggest fish
story ever
hatched in
Texas, spread
like wildfire
across the
nation, as
telegraph keys
spread the
story to
newspapers
everywhere.
One newspaper
reported that
"Jonah was
found at the
wheel and had
been ticketed
for not having
a valid
pilot’s
license."
Port
Arthur’s Board
of Trade
realized the
whale could
become a
financial
bonanza. They
purchased huge
amounts of
food and
supplies from
Houston; they
also
encouraged
five railroads
to promote
excursion
trains to Port
Arthur from
all points
within 300
miles.
The
Board of Trade
tugged the
whale carcass
out of the
water so all
of it would be
on display.
They installed
electric
lights, pumped
tons of
preservatives
into the
whale, and
after its
vital organs
had been
removed,
filled the
whale’s
interior with
tons of ice to
retard
putrefaction.
Trains
began arriving
the next day,
and on Sunday,
14 trains
arrived,
carrying
11,000 people.
Thousands more
arrived by
boat or any
wheeled
conveyance,
pushing the
daily total
beyond 20,000.
Finally
the number of
long excursion
trains reached
20 daily, and
still a
quarter-million
would-be
passengers
were left
stranded in
depots
everywhere. On
Monday,
pastors
complained
because one
whale had
emptied the
churches
throughout the
Southwest.
Every
train had
standing room
only, and Port
Arthur was
able to
accommodate
the crowds
only
minimally.
By
Friday, "Moby
Dick" was
becoming quite
smelly. A
newspaper
reported that
the crowds
still flocked
to Port Arthur
despite the
smell, and
that
"everybody had
a stinking
good time" by
holding
handkerchiefs
over noses.
After
ten days,
"Moby Dick"
was declared a
public health
hazard, and
the odorous
whale was
tugged back
aboard a barge
to remove it
from town.
About 300
barrels of
whale oil and
26 barrels of
sperm oil were
rendered from
its blubber.
"Moby
Dick" provided
a $1,000,000
gratuity for
the people of
Port Arthur,
and added an
equal amount
to the coffers
of the
railroads. A
300-mile rail
trip often
meant 36 hours
of standing in
a rail car,
and if lucky,
a few bites to
eat.
Eventually
the Plummer
Brothers
stuffed "Moby
Dick’s" hide
with hay and
displayed the
whale and
barge in
several
coastal
cities. A year
later the
whale display
caught fire in
Memphis and
was destroyed.
Later
a friend
questioned
whether 36
hours of utter
discomfort
while standing
on a train was
worth it. He
added though,
that in those
days, one
could visit
the big tent
of Ringling
Brothers
circus every
year in
Beaumont,
whereas "Moby
Dick" only
came once to
Port Arthur.
W.
T. Block of
Nederland is a
historian and
author. His
website is
http://block.dynip.com/wtblockjr/ This database is very large (350 articles)
and is
intended as an
area history
source for
students.
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