The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 52
476 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
In addition to Harrison's establishment, another packinghouse was
reported to have been "built between the old town [Indian Point] and
the new." One local history claims that Indianola had three turtle
packeries in all; the site of the third facility remains unclear. It is
probable, however, that people heeded the call, "Turtle! Turtle!"
made by H. Mulrenn and Company in the Corpus Christi Caller
(March 1o, 1860) offering to pay four dollars for each animal delivered
to a factory in upper Indianola. Products from these plants, plus
trussed live turtles, were loaded aboard vessels bound for Galveston,
New Orleans, and other points.26
Charles Morgan of New York owned the Southern Steamship Co.,
which connected Gulf ports and was based in New Orleans. These
Morgan steamers served Indianola after 1849 and carried cargo from
Matagorda Bay and the interior. In 186o a steamship left Indianola
four mornings a week, docked in Galveston about a day later, and
after a two-hour wait set sail on a journey to New Orleans that lasted
forty-eight hours or so.27
The New Orleans Daily Picayune reported turtles in its section on
"Marine News." In July, 1858, for example, the Morgan steamship
General Rusk, inbound from Brazos Santiago via Indianola, carried
thirteen turtles. A year later, another Morgan steamer, the Mexico,
docked from Indianola and Galveston with eleven turtles. In July,
186o, A. Norton and J. A. Macaulay, wholesale grocers, received twenty-
five boxes of turtle soup, presumably from Harrison's factory. Boxes
of turtle soup also appeared on import listings in the summer of 186o,
and David Bidwell, proprietor of the Phoenix House on Charles St.,
advertised a daily free lunch of green-turtle soup from 10 A.M. until
1 P.M.28
Back in the tiny port of Indianola, where turtles, oysters, and fish
were plentiful and often the market "was glutted with all kinds of
game and the air creaked under the weight of millions of wild fowls,"
jobbing houses sent oxen-drawn prairie schooners into neighboring
26Seeligson, "History of Indianola," go (1st quotation); Corpus Christi Caller, Mar. io,
i86o (2nd quotation). Jessie Beryl Boozer, "The History of Indianola, Texas" (M.A.
thesis, University of Texas, 1942), 57-58, believed there were two turtle plants.
27Malsch, Indianola, 21, 89; Texas State Register for the Year of Our Lord, z86o . .
(Galveston, 186o), 7; James P. Baughman, Charles Morgan and the Development of
Southern Transportation (Nashville, 1968), 92, 95, 116. Baughman stated that Morgan
supplied the essential long-distance link for the "stock raisers, meat packing, hide and
tallow, and turtle canning plants in Rockport and Fulton," as well (p. 184).
28The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), July 24, 1858 (1st quotation), July 7, 1859, June
15 (2nd quotation), July 3, 17, 24, 186o; Charles Gardner, Gardner's New Orleans Di-
rectory for 1859 (New Orleans, 1958), 224, 354-
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985, periodical, 1984/1985; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101210/m1/74/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.