Sabine-Neches Canal

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The Sabine-Neches Canal. Jefferson County, Texas.

Now, you want to talk about a waterway that's done some serious work in this world, you start right here, sittin' between Port Arthur and Lake Sabine, drawing on the drainages of both the Sabine and the Neches Rivers. This canal is a vital route for commerce, moving goods from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to port facilities in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange, and beyond. It didn't just happen, though.

Nothing this useful ever does. Interest in developin' this waterway got a real boost from the success of the Port Arthur Canal, which had already proven itself integral to the growth of the city. People saw what a canal could do, and they wanted more of it.

Congress passed a joint resolution in 1898, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got to planning. The vision was ambitious: link this new canal into the Intracoastal Waterway, that long ribbon of water running all the way from Brownsville to Florida and north to New Jersey.

The Sabine-Neches Canal would connect from the ICW to the Port Arthur Canal, southeast of the city. Construction began around 1908 and took two years to complete. Now here's where it gets interesting.

The original plans called for the canal to be built straight through Sabine Lake. Straightforward enough, you'd think. But land companies and residents had other ideas.

They pushed to have the canal sited separately, and their reasoning was practical: they hoped it would provide a levee system against tropical storms. That's the kind of thinking that comes from livin' on the Gulf Coast. Once the canal was in place, a drawbridge linked Port Arthur with Pleasure Island.

That drawbridge is long gone now, replaced by what is today known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge. Then in 1929, Governor Dan Moody signed legislation for a seawall system around Port Arthur.

That system included the Rue Des Soldats, which translates to the Street of the Soldiers, along with parks. But the city sits low. Real low.

And by 1966, that road had to be closed because of it. The city came back around to it in 1981, replacing it with an improved levee system that included an elevated seawall drive running along the historic Sabine-Neches Canal. So the canal that was partly chosen to protect the city from storms ended up, in time, becoming the spine of the very seawall that guards it.

That's a waterway that earned its place on the map.

What the marker says

Situated between Port Arthur and Lake Sabine and drainages of the Sabine and Neches Rivers, the Sabine-Neches Canal is a vital route for commerce from the Gulf of Mexico to port facilities in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange and other areas. Interest in development of the waterway increased after the success of the Port Arthur Canal, which was integral to the growth of the city. Construction of the canal began following a joint resolution of Congress in 1898 and planning by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was to link and merge with the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), which runs from Brownsville to Florida and north to New Jersey. The canal would run from the ICW to the Port Arthur Canal, southeast of the city. Construction began around 1908 and took two years to complete. Original plans called for it to be built through Sabine Lake; however, land companies and residents chose to have the canal sited separately, hoping it would provide a levee system against tropical storms. A drawbridge linked port Arthur with Pleasure Island. It was replaced by what is now the Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge. In 1929, Governor Dan Moody signed legislation for a seawall system around Port Arthur that included the Rue Des Soldats (Street of the Soldiers) and parks. Due to its low elevation, the city closed the road in 1966, replacing it in 1981 with an improved levee system that included the elevated seawall drive along the historic Sabine-Neches Canal. (2007)