Brazos Santiago Pass
Coast Survey of Brazos Santiago Pass ca. 1867[1]
Illustration of Brazos Santiago Pass
Location on Texas Gulf Seacoast Show map of Texas Brazos Santiago Pass (Texas) (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Brazos Island Cameron County, Texas Port Isabel South Padre Island
Country	United States
Coordinates	26°03′56″N 97°09′31″W / 26.06563°N 97.15858°W / 26.06563; -97.15858 (Brazos Santiago Pass)
Specifications
Length	1.14 miles (1.83 km)
NOAA NDBC	Brazos Santiago ~ BZST2
History
Former names	Brazos Island Harbor Channel Brownsville Channel Port Isabel Channel
Modern name	Brazos Santiago Inlet
Current owner	State of Texas
Geography
Direction	West
Start point	Gulf of Mexico
End point	Port Isabel
Beginning coordinates	26°03′59″N 97°08′42″W / 26.06631°N 97.14496°W / 26.06631; -97.14496 (Brazos Santiago Pass Entrance)
Ending coordinates	26°03′59″N 97°09′50″W / 26.06632°N 97.16395°W / 26.06632; -97.16395 (Brazos Santiago Pass Exit)
Branch(es)	Laguna Madre
Branch of	Lower Laguna Madre Lower Rio Grande Valley
Connects to	Boca Chica Pass Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Port of Brownsville South Bay
GNIS feature ID	1372708

Brazos Santiago Pass is a natural coastal landform located in the Lower Laguna Madre and Lower Rio Grande Valley on the furthest southern beach terrain of the Texas Gulf Coast.^[2] The seacoast passage is interpolated by barrier islands encompassing the southern Brazos Island and the northern South Padre Island.^[3]

The waterway inlet is a navigable strait spanning a water depth of 42 feet (13 m) and a waterway channel distance of 1.14 miles (1.83 km). The Brazos Santiago channel and seaward approach is defined by parallel jetties designed with a breakwater separation of .25 miles (0.40 km). The jetty harbor development sustains the passage entrance from coastal erosion, coastal sediment transport, longshore drift, and sandbank shoals. The South Padre Island jetty is .6 miles (0.97 km) from the Padre Island shoreline annexed by the Boca Chica jetty extending .3 miles (0.48 km) into the Brazos Island continental margin.

The natural ocean inlet has a shoreline distance on Brazos Island of 7.5 miles (12.1 km) to the Rio Grande often entitled as the Mexico–United States border.

Navigation lights of Brazos Santiago pass

In 1850, the 31st United States Congress authorized the Lighthouse Service Act as enacted into law by 13th President of the United States Millard Fillmore on September 28, 1850.^[4] In 1851, the United States Lighthouse Board was convened as a quasi-military board fostering guardianship as applicable toterrestrial navigation services for maritime transport by the United States Lighthouse Service.

In 1853, a nautical beacon was initially established on South Padre Island with a proximity to the Brazos Island Military Depot originally entitled Fort Polk during the Mexican–American War.^[6][7][8] The navigation beacon had a 30 feet (9.1 m) vertical height situated on a square platform with a 15 feet (4.6 m) width. The structural design was constructed of wood equipped with a square copper lantern hoisted by block and tackle to the pinnacle. The beacon was visually completed with 5 feet (1.5 m) artillery wheels secured to a 19 feet (5.8 m) oak axletree for to and fro mobility on the barrier island coastline.^[9]

In 1879, a screw-pile lighthouse was established in the intertidal zone of the Lower Laguna Madre with a geographic proximity to the Brazos Santiago Pass.^[10] The deep foundation architecture was acknowledged as a notable landmark sight for sixty years within the Texas international boundary region of the Lower Rio Grande Valley coast.^[11][12] The foundation was developed with screw piles anchored into the estuarial seabed of the Lower Laguna Madre.^[13][14][15] The upper quarters were structured as a 1½ storey hexagonal Cape Cod style cottage built of timbers completed with a fourth-order fresnel lens located at the pinnacle.^[16][17]

The stilt structure had a visibility from the brackish water bearing 150 yards (140 m) from the South Padre Island shore and 750 yards (690 m) from the Brazos Santiago Pass.^[18][19]

Locale of Brazos Santiago Pass Screw-Pile Lighthouse
Brazos Santiago screw-pile lighthouse

US coastal navigability development of Brazos Santiago pass

The Rivers and Harbors Act established a declaration of governance for the natural waterway of the Brazos Santiago Pass. The Act of Congress granted coastal engineering, coastal management, and public works projects for the natural inland waterway during the late nineteenth century to the twentieth century.

The Brazos Island and South Padre Island landform development proposals were endorsed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers sustaining the beach evolution at the Brazos Island Harbor natural inlet.^[20][21][22]

Station Brazos and US Life Saving Service

In 1878, the United States Life Saving Service Act authorized the creation of a coastal life saving station near the navigable strait of the Brazos Island Harbor.^[23] The Station Brazos was constructed in 1881 and governed by the United States Life-Saving Service.^[24]

Texas Historical Commission site

The Brazos Santiago Pass received a historical marker in 1996 by the Texas Historical Commission establishing a momentous narrative for the south Texas coastal dominion during the nineteenth century.^[25]