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Port Mansfield Channel: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 26°33′39″N 97°20′54″W / 26.5609°N 97.34831°W / 26.5609; -97.34831 (Port Mansfield Channel)
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During the 1940s, the state of Texas and the United States commenced surveying the Laguna Madre-Padre Island coastal basin for a conducive [[estuary]] landing seeking to proportion the [[maritime transport]] of the [[Gulf Intracoastal Waterway]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/59/STATUTE-59-Pg10.pdf |title=River and Harbor Act of 1945 ~ P.L. 79-14 |work=59 Stat. 10 ~ Senate Bill 35 |date=March 2, 1945 |publisher=USLaw.Link}}</ref> The [[intracoastal waterway]] and Laguna Madre-Padre Island basin observation determined the undistinguishable fish camp known as Red Fish Landing to be an adaptable and practical vicinity for a [[Waterfront (area)|waterfront]] [[Berth (moorings)|berth]]. The Red Fish Bay locality supported a mid-point considering the distance of {{convert|85|mi|km}} from [[Corpus Christi, Texas]] and {{convert|35|mi|km}} from [[Brownsville, Texas]].
During the 1940s, the state of Texas and the United States commenced surveying the Laguna Madre-Padre Island coastal basin for a conducive [[estuary]] landing seeking to proportion the [[maritime transport]] of the [[Gulf Intracoastal Waterway]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/59/STATUTE-59-Pg10.pdf |title=River and Harbor Act of 1945 ~ P.L. 79-14 |work=59 Stat. 10 ~ Senate Bill 35 |date=March 2, 1945 |publisher=USLaw.Link}}</ref> The [[intracoastal waterway]] and Laguna Madre-Padre Island basin observation determined the undistinguishable fish camp known as Red Fish Landing to be an adaptable and practical vicinity for a [[Waterfront (area)|waterfront]] [[Berth (moorings)|berth]]. The Red Fish Bay locality supported a mid-point considering the distance of {{convert|85|mi|km}} from [[Corpus Christi, Texas]] and {{convert|35|mi|km}} from [[Brownsville, Texas]].


In 1949, the [[81st United States Congress]] reached a consensus regarding the River and Harbor Act of 1950 as enacted into law by [[Presidency of Harry S. Truman|33rd President of the United States]] Harry Truman on May 17, 1950.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/64/STATUTE-64-Pg163a.pdf |title=River and Harbor Act of 1950 ~ P.L. 81-516 |work=64 Stat. 163 ~ House Bill 5472 |date=May 17, 1950 |publisher=USLaw.Link}}</ref> The [[Act of Congress]] authorized the waterfront domain known as Red Fish Landing to be unanimously entitled as Port Mansfield serving the [[ecotone]] basin as a vessel [[Berth (moorings)|berth]] for future decades.
In 1949, the [[81st United States Congress]] reached a consensus regarding the River and Harbor Act of 1950 as enacted into law by [[Presidency of Harry S. Truman|33rd President of the United States]] Harry Truman on May 17, 1950.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://govtrackus.s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/64/STATUTE-64-Pg163a.pdf |title=River and Harbor Act of 1950 ~ P.L. 81-516 |work=64 Stat. 163 ~ House Bill 5472 |date=May 17, 1950 |publisher=USLaw.Link}}</ref> The [[Act of Congress]] authorized the waterfront domain known as Red Fish Landing to be unanimously entitled as Port Mansfield serving the [[ecotone]] basin as a vessel [[Berth (moorings)|berth]] for future decades.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/81-1950/s309 |title=Senate Vote #309 in 1950 (81st Congress) ~ HR 5472 Passage: 53-19 |date=April 17, 1950 |publisher=GovTrack}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/81-1950/h179 |title=House Vote #179 in 1950 (81st Congress) ~ HR 5472 Passage: 210-137 |date=May 3, 1950 |publisher=GovTrack}}</ref>


During the 1950s, United States House and Senate congressional sessions appointed Public Works Committee hearings exploring the [[navigability]] of the Laguna Madre, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and the continuation of [[estuaries of Texas]] to [[South Bay (Texas)|South Bay]] at the [[Mexico–United States border]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3996731&view=1up&seq=61 |title=Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas |trans-title=United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |pages=42-P. IX}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3996731&view=1up&seq=71 |title=Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas |trans-title=United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |pages=1-58}}</ref>
During the 1950s, United States House and Senate congressional sessions appointed Public Works Committee hearings exploring the [[navigability]] of the Laguna Madre, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and the continuation of [[estuaries of Texas]] to [[South Bay (Texas)|South Bay]] at the [[Mexico–United States border]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3996731&view=1up&seq=61 |title=Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas |trans-title=United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |pages=42-P. IX}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3996731&view=1up&seq=71 |title=Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas |trans-title=United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |pages=1-58}}</ref>

Revision as of 07:23, 31 July 2022

Port Mansfield Channel
Port Mansfield Channel
Mansfield Cut at Padre Island
Port Mansfield Channel is located in Texas
Port Mansfield Channel
Port Mansfield Channel Entrance
Location
CountryUnited States
Coordinates26°33′39″N 97°20′54″W / 26.5609°N 97.34831°W / 26.5609; -97.34831 (Port Mansfield Channel)
Specifications
Length15.3 km (9.5 miles)
Navigation authority
  • ☆ Port of Port Mansfield
  • ☆ Willacy County Navigation District
Port Mansfield Marinas
  • Port Mansfield Boat Basin Marina (Map).
  • Willacy County Navigation District Marina (Map).
History
Former names
  • East Cut
  • Mansfield Cut
  • Port Mansfield Gulf Channel
Modern namePort Mansfield Channel[1]
Current ownerWillacy County Navigation District
Other engineer(s)Army Corps of Engineers
Construction beganSeptember 1957
Date restoredJuly 1962
Topo MapPort Mansfield Channel (Map).
Geography
Start pointGulf of Mexico
End pointRed Fish Bay[2]
Beginning coordinates26°33′51″N 97°16′07″W / 26.564045°N 97.268697°W / 26.564045; -97.268697
Ending coordinates26°33′32″N 97°24′04″W / 26.558954°N 97.401091°W / 26.558954; -97.401091
Connects to
GNIS feature ID1344370

Port Mansfield Channel or Mansfield Cut is an artificial waterway situated on the earth's longest barrier island known as Padre Island encompassing the Texas Gulf Coast. During Post–World War II, the tidal inlet was dredged as a private channel differentiating North Padre Island and South Padre Island.[3] The navigable waterway was channeled during the late 1950s ceremoniously cresting the intertidal zone of the Gulf of Mexico by September 1957.[4]

Mansfield Channel Jetties

The marginal sea inlet was defined by wave-dissipating concrete blocks similarly referred to as tetrapods protracting into the Gulf of Mexico at Padre Island. The breakwater structure was severely dilapidated during the 1957 Atlantic hurricane season with the Bay of Campeche spawning Hurricane Audrey and Tropical Storm Esther engulfing the existing jetty harbor entrance on Padre Island.[5]

In 1962, the United States Army Corps of Engineers devised an expansive coastal engineered jetty system resiliently controlling coastal sediment transport, longshore drift, and shoaling during normal gravity wave and wind wave processes.[6] The breakwater jetties were constructed with granite boulders situated as an eastern protrusion of 580 yards (530 m) and 825 yards (754 m) from the Padre Island shoreline into the Gulf of Mexico continental margin. The granite piers have a divisionary distance of 315 yards (288 m) permitting navigable passage from the brackish water of the Laguna Madre to the easterly Gulf of Mexico horizon.[7] The coastal management framework was collaterally conformable given the imminent intervals of low-pressure weather systems and storm surges charged by the gradient intensity of tropical cyclones encroaching the Texas seacoast.

History

Entitlement of Port Mansfield and Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

During the 1940s, the state of Texas and the United States commenced surveying the Laguna Madre-Padre Island coastal basin for a conducive estuary landing seeking to proportion the maritime transport of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.[8] The intracoastal waterway and Laguna Madre-Padre Island basin observation determined the undistinguishable fish camp known as Red Fish Landing to be an adaptable and practical vicinity for a waterfront berth. The Red Fish Bay locality supported a mid-point considering the distance of 85 miles (137 km) from Corpus Christi, Texas and 35 miles (56 km) from Brownsville, Texas.

In 1949, the 81st United States Congress reached a consensus regarding the River and Harbor Act of 1950 as enacted into law by 33rd President of the United States Harry Truman on May 17, 1950.[9] The Act of Congress authorized the waterfront domain known as Red Fish Landing to be unanimously entitled as Port Mansfield serving the ecotone basin as a vessel berth for future decades.[10][11]

During the 1950s, United States House and Senate congressional sessions appointed Public Works Committee hearings exploring the navigability of the Laguna Madre, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and the continuation of estuaries of Texas to South Bay at the Mexico–United States border.[12][13]

Padre Island, Texas
Climate chart (explanation)
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94
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5.5
 
 
85
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3.4
 
 
80
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2.2
 
 
70
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Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
Precipitation totals in inches
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Metric conversion
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F
M
A
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A
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26
 
 
23
11
 
 
88
 
 
22
12
 
 
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21
 
 
29
 
 
33
23
 
 
77
 
 
34
24
 
 
30
 
 
35
23
 
 
160
 
 
34
23
 
 
140
 
 
29
19
 
 
86
 
 
27
14
 
 
56
 
 
21
7
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm

See also

Mansfield Cut Underwater Archeological District
Padre Island National Seashore
Texas barrier islands

References

  1. ^ Port Mansfield Channel in Geonames.org (cc-by)
  2. ^ United States Geological Survey. 26097E4 quadrangle, Red Fish Bay, Texas (Topographic map). Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey – via TopoQuest.
  3. ^ Leatherwood, Art. "Port Mansfield Channel". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association.
  4. ^ Kieslich, James M. (May 1, 1977). "DTIC ADA042651: A Case History of Port Mansfield Channel, Texas" [Figure 4: Port Mansfield Channel, 15 March 1957]. Internet Archive. Defense Technical Information Center. p. 17.
  5. ^ Kieslich, James M. (May 1, 1977). "DTIC ADA042651: A Case History of Port Mansfield Channel, Texas" [Figure 5: Port Mansfield Channel Entrance, November 1957]. Internet Archive. Defense Technical Information Center. p. 18.
  6. ^ "Senator Allen J. Ellender - Public Works Assessment Statement - Port Mansfield Director Charles R. Johnson" [Public Works Appropriations, 1960 ~ U.S. Senate, Eighty-sixth Congress, H.R. 7509 - Making Appropriations for Civil Functions Administered by the Department of the Army]. HathiTrust Digital Library. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2150. OCLC 9711636.
  7. ^ Kieslich, James M. (May 1, 1977). "DTIC ADA042651: A Case History of Port Mansfield Channel, Texas" [Figure E-5: Port Mansfield Channel Entrance, January and July 1962]. Internet Archive. Defense Technical Information Center. p. 60.
  8. ^ "River and Harbor Act of 1945 ~ P.L. 79-14" (PDF). 59 Stat. 10 ~ Senate Bill 35. USLaw.Link. March 2, 1945.
  9. ^ "River and Harbor Act of 1950 ~ P.L. 81-516" (PDF). 64 Stat. 163 ~ House Bill 5472. USLaw.Link. May 17, 1950.
  10. ^ "Senate Vote #309 in 1950 (81st Congress) ~ HR 5472 Passage: 53-19". GovTrack. April 17, 1950.
  11. ^ "House Vote #179 in 1950 (81st Congress) ~ HR 5472 Passage: 210-137". GovTrack. May 3, 1950.
  12. ^ "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas" [United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178]. HathiTrust Digital Library. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 42-P. IX.
  13. ^ "Gulf Intracoastal Waterway ~ Channel to Port Mansfield, Texas" [United States Congressional Serial Set No. 12178]. HathiTrust Digital Library. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 1–58.