Port Mansfield, Last of the Valley's Commercial
Ports To be Created
Originally I was only going to deal with the more or less major ports, all located in Cameron County. When the title of my series stated LRG Valley I immediately knew that to leave out Port Mansfield would put some noses out of joint.
Yes, Port Mansfield is a commercial port in that it generates revenues for itself, Willacy County, and the region as a whole. Like its sister ports its development involved considerable government intervention and expenditure.
The land on which Port Mansfield is situated was once part of the San Juan de Carrictos land grant to Jose Narcissos Cavazos. It became part of the King Ranch when, around 1880, Richard King acquired it. Not especially friendly to settlement, the area, then called Redfish Landing (on Redfish Bay), gained use as an excellent fishing site on the Laguna Madre. Accessibility was another matter. The Old Alice stagecoach trail ran to its west, and the El Sauz Ranch community had the largest inhabited settlement nearest it.
Popular with fishermen who knew of its wonderful catches, little was developed at the bay until 1932 when a crew of ten from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation took on the shovel-ready task of dragging the beach to create a better environment for swimming and boating.
As word of the recreational potential of the area became more widespread, the American Legion of Willacy County ventured to increase the area's usage. It was able, in March 1933, to lease 197 acres of coastal land from the executors of Henrietta King's estate. With prohibition still the law of the land alcohol was forbidden as were firearms in the acreage which was to be fenced. In short the acreage was to be used for park and recreational purposes only.
The Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 struck the area that now had twenty cottages built on it. While one person drowned another ten barely survived the wave action that inundated and swept away the cottages. Over the decades the area would be visited by other hurricanes and tropical storms. Its sea level elevation made it susceptible to devastation.
Later in the year the Great Depression federal program of the Works Project Administration (W.P.A.) commenced to build, with a $7,000 allotment, an all-weather graded road to Redfish Bay.
As early as 1907 a few visionaries could conceive of a port for the area though it wouldn't be until 1945 that work resumed on dredging the 121 mile Intracoastal Canal section from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. Such an individual was Nat Wetzel of Raymondville. It was however Charles R. Johnson, who had come to Lyford in 1919, that was largely instrumental in developing and promoting the coastal areas east of Raymondville. He was a man of many talents and over time wore many hats such as that of tax-assessor, Raymondville mayor, Willacy County judge, journalist, and real estate developer. He, in fact, laid out and platted San Perlita that was named after his wife Pearl.
Johnson's most singular achievement regarding the evolution of Port Mansfield was likely his efforts towards the establishment of the Willacy County Navigation District (Port of Mansfield Authority). It was created as a governmental entity on February 14, 1948 to take advantage of the county’s location in regard to the Laguna Madre Bay and Gulf of Mexico. A mere three dozen fishing shacks and summer homes marked the area at this time with few substantial docking facilities of note. During years as port director and as a district board director he would see the designation of a FM 606 Road to the marine facility, securing of a post office, building of an airport and other community improvements.
"In March of 1950 the Navigation District acquired 1,760 acres of land immediately surrounding the port facilities of "Red Fish Bay" by instituting legal proceedings to have the land condemned. The case was won by the District, which agreed to pay the American Legion three dollars an acre for the land it owned. The small fishing park was renamed Port Mansfield in honor of state Senator Joseph J. Mansfield from Columbus, Texas, who headed the Commission that pushed legislation through the U.S. Congress to have the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway extended from Corpus Christi to Brownsville."
With this accomplished the future afforded many opportunities. It all began in June 1950 when the Board of Navigation and Canal Commissioners authorized $500,000 in bonds to begin work on the harbor and the large Navigation District barn was built. The harbor facilities were phased in incrementally over a six year period. Of course the major undertaking was the 1954-beginning construction of the channel through the Laguna Madre and Padre Island to be followed by the erection of a jetty system. This was completed in 1957. Unfortunately this latter project ran into design problems as once had the jetties to the south at Brazos Island. The cast concrete tetra pod failed to lock in place and secure firm footing in the sand; they in fact soon sank out of sight.
While the harbor with its 77 boat stalls was dedicated in October 1957, the channel and jetties stabilization would take time to accomplish. This would occur in July 1962 with the utilization of granite boulders and the deepening of the channel to 18 feet. Called the East Cut it runs nine miles from the port to the open sea. A month before, Port Mansfield saw the opening of its 2,600 foot airstrip, later to be lengthened to 3,200 feet and even lighted.
Eventually nearly $9 million of public funds went into the port development. That led some heads to shake, but, after the Government Accounting Office conducted an investigation, no evidence of wrongdoing was unearthed.
Port Mansfield never become the major commercial port that Johnson envisioned. It was developed and sustained by navigation district taxation and Federal government funding and doubled in size to its present of 5.7 square miles, .5 acre of which are waterways. The 2000 Census put its population at 415 people and 187 households. The area contained 563 housing units indicative that many are used as weekends or vacation units. Improvements to the marina facilities were seen in 1983 after a Navigation District bond issue allowed for the construction of a new 135 boat capacity Small Craft Basin facility to replace the 1957 one.
The port faces periodic challenges from Mother Nature. One major one that peaked in early 2008 was the serious shoaling of the channel such that only shallow draft boats could make the passage. Fortunately the financially-pressed U.S. Corps of Engineers found relief funds form Hurricanes Rita and Dolly to enable it to re-dredge the channel 16-20 feet deep.
Port Mansfield has become a quiet, attractive community with residents leasing land from the district and building substantial housing. For a while it was used by vessels servicing the offshore oil industry, but this was transitional. Economically it survives as a mecca both for shore and offshore fishing. A highlight is the annual Port Mansfield Fishing Tournament.