Corpus Christi Bay

Coordinates: 27°46′20″N 97°15′10″W / 27.77222°N 97.25278°W / 27.77222; -97.25278
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Corpus Christi Bay
Corpus Christi Bay (right), Nueces Bay (top), and Oso Bay (bottom)
Corpus Christi Bay is located in Texas
Corpus Christi Bay
Corpus Christi Bay
LocationSouth Texas Gulf Coast
Coordinates27°46′20″N 97°15′10″W / 27.77222°N 97.25278°W / 27.77222; -97.25278
River sourcesNueces River, Oso Creek
Ocean/sea sourcesGulf of Mexico
Basin countriesUnited States
Surface area106,990 acres (43,300 ha)[1]
SettlementsCorpus Christi, Portland, Ingleside, Ingleside on the Bay

Corpus Christi Bay is a scenic semi-tropical bay on the

Houston
.

Corpus Christi Bay has a rich history of human settlement along its shores that dates back millennia and is responsible for the growth of Corpus Christi, and the smaller ports of Ingleside and Portland. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas and supports a diverse collection of wildlife, attracting many tourists. The bay's abundance of petroleum and natural gas has attracted industry, and its strategic location on the Texas coast is ideal for military establishment.

History

The shores of Corpus Christi (or Body of Christ) Bay are thought to have been inhabited by the

St. Michael the Archangel, but the name did not stick and was referred to as "Corpus Christi Bay" in a 1766 report by Diego Ortiz Parrilla. Explorer Blas María de la Garza Falcón is believed to have been the first man to purchase land on the bay in 1746.[4] Shortly thereafter the short-lived settlement of Villa de Vedoya was founded on the mouth of the Nueces River.[2]

The first trading post on Corpus Christi Bay was established by

2000 U.S. census.[2] In addition to Corpus Christi, Kinney also found Nuecestown (known to settlers as The Motts) in 1852, near the confluence of the Nueces River and Nueces Bay. The town was attacked by Mexican robbers in 1875, and underwent a steep decline. It is now a ghost town located in the Corpus Christi city limits.[6] The city of Ingleside was founded on the northern shore of the bay in 1854, and grew slowly. It had a population of 9,388 in the 2000 census.[7] Likewise, the city of Portland located on the northeastern bluff between the Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays, did not grow as rapidly as Corpus Christi, following its 1891 founding. During the 2000 census, it had 14,827 residents.[8]

For transportation on the bay, steamboats were commonplace between Corpus Christi and Ingleside during the 1930s.[7] Native Americans used a route made up of a series of shallow oyster beds, dubbed Reef Road. The passage, which was about 18 to 24 inches in depth, could be navigated on foot or horseback during low tides to travel across the opening of Nueces Bay into Corpus Christi Bay. White settlers discovered the road in the 1860s, and it became a common way to pass from Portland to Corpus Christi via buggy, although its jagged course had to be marked with posts and horses would sometimes fall off the beds and drown. A wooden causeway connecting Portland and Corpus Christi was first constructed in 1915, but was repeatedly rebuilt and destroyed by several storms. A permanent concrete bridge was erected in the 1950s, and a double lane was added in 1988.[9] The approximately mile long structure is today known as the Nueces Bay Causeway.[10]

The bay has been strategically important for the military. General

AD-6 Skyraider crashed into Corpus Christi Bay and sank to the bottom. He squeezed out of the cockpit, swam ten feet to the surface, and was carried to safety by a rescue helicopter, therefore escaping without major injuries.[13]

Features

Corpus Christi Bay (blue), Oso Bay (orange), Nueces Bay (green)
A spoils island shown from the shore of Corpus Christi Bay at Rincon Point

The shoreline of Corpus Christi Bay is included in the

subtropical, and was described by Gutzon Borglum as "the most beautiful bay on the Texas coast."[5]

On average, the system is 3 meters (9.8 ft) deep, and covers approximately 497 square kilometers (192 sq mi). The two main extensions are

Laguna Madre and Matagorda Bay.[1] Every second, approximately 34 cubic meters (9,000 U.S. gal) of water flows into the bay. The exchange with the Gulf of Mexico occurs at Aransas Pass. As a result of the seawater exchange, the bay's salinity is 22 parts per thousand (ppt),[14] which is lower than the seawater average of 35 ppt.[15]

Following the shoreline beginning at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi on the bay's southeastern peninsula, the features of the bay can be best described. Moving northwest from the air station, Oso Bay must be crossed at its confluence with Corpus Christi Bay. On the other side of the meeting is Ward Island (actually a peninsula), where Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi is found. Further northwest, the shore begins to curve and off in the distance across the bay, the skyline of Corpus Christi is visible. Following the shore, the land dips inward and forms Emerald Cove, where a seawall has been constructed. Out in the bay, the Alta Vista Reef can be spotted from this location. Moving north along the shore, the seawall continues into the main city, until it reaches Industrial Canal, which has been dredged south of Nueces Bay and extends into the main bay to Port Aransas. Another seawall, which starts in Emerald Cove with gaps at places such as a spoils island that can be viewed in the bay and the canal, is slightly out in the water. This seawall ends when it reaches land at the southern portion of Corpus Christi Beach. North of the canal, Corpus Christi Beach is found along the shore to Rincon Point, where Corpus Christi Bay opens to Nueces Bay and must be crossed using the Nueces Bay Causeway to Indian Point near Portland, from where Indian Reef juts from offshore.[16] Past Portland, the shore curves to the southeast where the large La Quinta Island forms on the backdrop of industrial plants in Ingleside. The La Quinta Channel has been dredged between the island and the shore and meets the Jewell Fulton canal at the confluence of Kinney Bayou. Ingleside Cove is formed in this area between La Quinta Island and an island named Ingleside Point. The shore then curves to the southwest where Ingleside on the Bay is located on southern shore of the bay's northeastern peninsula. To the southeast, a series of islands form the boundary between Corpus Christi and Redfish Bays.[17]

Ecosystem

The

Gray snapper, Common snook, and tripletail.[18]

In 2009, $1 million of federal stimulus money was delegated to the restoration of the marshland near the Nueces Bay Causeway to increase the population of birds and fish. The

black-billed whistling duck, reddish egret, white-faced ibis, pauraque, buff-bellied hummingbird, golden-fronted woodpecker, long-billed thrasher, olive sparrow, Neotropic cormorant, laughing gull, Franklin's gull, ring-billed gull, herring gull, gull-billed tern, common loon, brown-crested flycatcher, hooded oriole, peregrine falcon and piping plover. Bird populations are protected and can be viewed at the Hans and Pat Suter Wildlife Refuge on Oso Bay.[20]

Industry

Industry toward Ingleside

Corpus Christi Bay is a natural harbor, and its port has contributed to the growth of the main port city of Corpus Christi.

Reynolds Metals (five miles away) and DuPont opened. La Quinta Channel was dredged by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s.[7]

Tourism to the bay is encouraged by the area's climate,[4] fishing and birding opportunities as well as sites in Corpus Christi including Corpus Christi beach, Texas State Aquarium, USS Lexington Museum, the bayfront marina, and the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.[21] The bay was also the site of the 2008 U.S. Wind and Water Open,[23] as well as the Texas International Boat Show in 2008, 2009[24] and 2010.[25]

References

  1. ^ a b "Nueces Estuary (Corpus Christi Bay)". Texas Water Development Board. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Long, Christopher (May 30, 2010). "Corpus Christi, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  3. ^ Hester, Thomas R. (May 30, 2010). "Oso Creek Site". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e Leatherwood, Art (May 30, 2010). "Corpus Christi Bay". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  5. ^ a b c Dube, Stephanie (August 7, 1998). "Borglum's bayfront plans are recalled". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  6. ^ Campbell, James N. (May 30, 2010). "Nuecestown, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  7. ^ a b c Guthrie, Keith (May 30, 2010). "Ingleside, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  8. ^ Guthrie, Keith (May 30, 2010). "Portland, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  9. ^ Guthrie, Keith (May 30, 2010). "Reef Road". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  10. ^ Leatherwood, Art (May 30, 2010). "Nueces Bay". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  11. ^ Long, Christopher (May 30, 2010). "Rincon Point". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  12. ^ Leatherwood, Art (May 30, 2010). "Naval Air Station Corpus Christi". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  13. ^ Vartabedian, Ralph; Serrano, Richard A. (2008-10-06). "Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e f "Corpus Christi Bay". GulfBase. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  15. ^ Anderson, Genny (October 8, 2008). "Seawater Composition". Marine Science. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  16. ^ "Topographic Maps". Digital-Topo-Maps.com. Google. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  17. ^ "Jewell Fulton Canal – Nueces County, TX". Trails.com. Google. 1999–2010. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  18. ^ "Water Body Records for Corpus Christi Bay". Texas Parks and Wildlife. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. May 4, 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  19. ^ De La Rosa, Manuel (August 23, 2009). "Marsh Restoration Project Planned for Nueces Bay Causeway". KIII TV3 – News, Sports, Weather. Corpus Christi, Texas. Archived from the original on September 26, 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  20. ^ Ritter, Jamie (February 1, 2007). Birding Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend: More Than 75 Prime Birding Sites. Globe Pequot.
  21. ^ a b "History". Official web site for City of Corpus Christi, Texas. City of Corpus Christi, Texas. 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  22. ^ "Port of Corpus Christi". World Port Source. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  23. ^ "2008 Wind & Water Open makes Waves with Fans". KIII TV3 – News, Sports, Weather. Corpus Christi. May 10, 2008. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  24. ^ "Texas International Boat Show". Official web site for City of Corpus Christi, Texas. City of Corpus Christi, Texas. 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  25. ^ Baird, Mike (April 23, 2010). "Texas International Boat Show a family festival on the water". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Retrieved 2 June 2010.

External links

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