On the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898 Texas furnished more than her quota of eager and determined volunteers to the United States army; the sons of the men who wore the gray donned the blue uniform and wore it proudly and worthily throughout the campaign. A railroad commission was formed in 1891. In 1891, also, the United States government began at Galveston the building of jetties to improve the entrance to the harbor. These jetties, which are a double line of gigantic stone walls, reach out from the land into the Gulf. The action of the tides within this artificial channel washes out the sand, and thus deepens it. The channel, though damaged by the great flood of 1900, was not materially injured. Similar jetties were built at Sabine Pass and at Aransas Pass. In 1881 the old capitol at Austin was burned, and with it many priceless relics of the earlier days of Texas. Among these was the old monument dedicated in 1857 to the heroes of the Alamo. It was built of stones from the ruined fortress and stood on the porch of the capitol. It was inscribed with the names of Travis and his men; and the four sides of the shaft bore the following inscriptions: _North._ “To the God of the fearless and the free is dedicated this altar, made from the stones of the Alamo.” _West._ “Blood of heroes hath stained me. Let the stones of the Alamo speak that their immolation be not forgotten.” _South._ “Be they enrolled with Leonidas in the host of the mighty dead.” _East._ “Thermopylæ had her messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none.” A new monument, upon whose summit stands, rifle in hand, the statue of a Texas ranger, has been placed in the capitol grounds. The legislature which met soon after the burning of the old capitol provided for the erection of a new one. Three million acres of public lands were set aside to meet this expense. The new building was finished and dedicated in 1888. The historic old church of the Alamo was purchased by the state in 1883. The battlefield of San Jacinto has also become the property of the state. This beautiful spot, consecrated by the blood of heroes, is guarded by the same encircling trees, which, clad in the green of spring’s livery, looked down upon the birth of freedom on that long-past 21st of April. May the coming centuries see them still standing, mute witnesses to the bravery of men who had no peer! X. THE NEW CENTURY. The last year of the nineteenth century witnessed in Texas a calamity which wrapped the state in gloom and stirred the entire country to instant and generous sympathy. This was the Great Flood at Galveston.