Fishing Tales

The mouth of the San Bernard River was opened on Sunday 2/22/2009, after years of hard work by many fine people that believed they could make a difference. It just goes to show you if you believe in something and work hard you can still get important thing done in this country.

I wish I could have been at the mouth of the San Bernard River on Sunday to watch the waters of the Gulf of Mexico flow into the San Bernard. After many years and many miles of detour the river now flows in the  manner Mother Nature intended.

From what I here the opening of San Bernard did not quit happen as intended. But it did happen and it happened even though the dredging equipment had a major bearing malfunction. I heard the company that was hired to do the dredging ended up using a  bulldozer or 2 to get the mouth of the San Bernard River open.

The project is not complete as it will take a week to 10 day's for the widening and deepening of this fine old river to be completed.

Here is a little history lesson on the San Bernard River

Ancient Historical Time - the Colorado River changed course near New Ulm, Texas and left a depression to the Gulf of Mexico. Two small springs started flowing into the depression and the San Bernard River was born, flowing 120 miles into the Gulf.

Recent History - The Karankawa Indians settled along the lower San Bernard. During high winds and low tides, the river makes a weird musical sound as the wind blows over the exposed oyster reefs. The indians named the river, "the singing river".

1929 - The Corps of Engineers and Port Freeport rerouted the Brazos River to give Port Freeport  a dead water port. The Brazos River Diversion Canal (the new river)  moved the mouth of the Brazos from 14 + miles away from the San Bernard to within 3.8 miles, river mouth to river mouth.

1929 - 1985 - The Brazos River, carrying 245,000 cubic yards of sand and silt per year, built a new delta over 2 miles out into the Gulf. The San Bernard River appeared to be unaffected during this period of time.

1985 - The Brazos River Delta  completed itself and 175,000 cubic yards of washed, beach quality sand started flowing across the mouth of the San Bernard yearly, carried by the long shore currents that run east to west in the gulf. Clays, silts and fines (70,000 cubic yards per year) are washed into the deep gulf. A sand hook developed on the northeast side of the mouth of the San Bernard and the shoreline starts to expand seaward.

Late 1980's - A sand bar formed across the mouth of the San Bernard and navigation into the gulf became hazardous. The 70 + shrimp boats docked at the village of River's End began to move to Freeport or Matagorda and of the commercial support industries started to close at that location.

Mid 1990's - The San Bernard River begins to move to the southwest at the rate of 1.2 feet per day.

2000 - The San Bernard River mouth had moved 6,000 feet to the southwest, narrowed from 1,100 feet to 200 feet and shallowed from 8.5 feet to 4 feet, and started moving southwest at the rate of 1.8 feet per day.

Spring 2004 - My wife (Jan) and I (Roy) retire from Houston to the village of River's End. Observing the plight of the river, we made our first political contacts. Brazoria County Commissioner Donald "Dude" Payne joined our cause introduced us to elected officials, political entities, and local civic groups which we contacted and worked with to gain support for the project.

Fall 2004 - Sixteen like minded people banded together to seek a solution to the closing river mouth. The grassroots, non-profit organization, Friends Of the River (F.O.R.) San Bernard came from that group.

Spring 2005 - The mouth of the San Bernard River closed completely. None of the San Bernard's flow went directly into the Gulf.  The flow now goes east into the Intracoastal Canal through the west flood gate at the Brazos and into the Gulf through the mouth of the Brazos. The Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) declared the Brazos west flood gate to be the third most dangerous passage for commercial barge traffic between Florida and the Rio Grande. The Texas Dept. of Transportation advised the Texas legislature that the process of "tripping" at the west gate was costing the barge industry a minimum of 2 million dollars per year. "Tripping" is the process of breaking multiple barge tows down to single barges and soliciting the help of one or more additional tugs to help "push the current" in order to navigate the west flood gate.

July 2006 - Congressman Ron Paul asked F.O.R. to escort the Assistant Secretary of the Army ( and head of all civil works projects for the Corps of Engineers) John Paul Woodley, Jr. to the area where the San Bernard River last flowed into the Gulf, as part of A.S.A. Woodley's tour of the Texas Coast. This tour and information packet presented to A.S.A. Woodley resulted in his letter to the Galveston COE office requesting the re-opening of the mouth of the San Bernard River to its traditional location in order to relieve the navigational problems for commercial traffic through the west flood gate at the Brazos River.

December 2008 - Galveston Corps of Engineers, through Col. Weston, announced that the Corps will open the mouth of the San Bernard River.

January 2009 - After submitting the winning bid of $2,275,050.00 Mike Hooks Inc., West Lake,  Louisiana, moved Dredge 32 and its crew of 46 to the Intersection of the Intracoastal Canal and the San Bernard River on Sunday, January 25. The dredging project of almost 10,000 feet began shortly after noon on Monday, January 26. Completion is projected on or before March 15, 2009.

Mike Hooks, Inc. will provide a guided tour of Dredge 32 for you and your news crew.

F.O.R. San Bernard will provide transportation for you and your news crew to the work site, accessible only by boat. We will meet for that trip at my home in Southwest Brazoria Co. at your convenience. Ecological implications can be discussed at that time.Round trip boat ride is less than 5 miles.

Visit  http://www.sanbernardriver.com for additional information, photos, research studies, etc.

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