As Galveston grieved and struggled to regain the world’s confidence, Houston dredged Buffalo Bayou. Houston was inland, therefore safer, and it was closer to the big cross-country rail corridors. Oil eclipsed cotton. Great ships in black, red, and white glided quietly past Galveston, bound for the wharves of Buffalo Bayou. A silence settled over Galveston. Its population stopped growing. It acquired all the sorrows of modern urban life, but none of the density and vibrance. It became a beach town for Houston.
