The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a complex of barge canals and natural channels described as the most valuable waterway in America, stretches 1,116 miles from Brownsville, Texas, to St. Mark’s, Florida, and is longer and carries more tonnage than the Suez and Panama canals. It has been a vital link in the economy of Texas and one of the main causes of the rapid development of the Gulf Coast area. The canal system began in 1854, when a short canal from Galveston Bay to the mouth of the Brazos River was built to aid Texas trade; it was 50 feet wide, 3 1/2 feet deep, and dug by hand labor and mule teams. Later projects widened and lengthened the canal along the coast. The most important period in the growth of the waterway system resulted from the determined efforts of two Texas businessmen, Clarence S.E. Holland and Roy Miller, who in 1905-1907 organized initial financial support, arranged construction, and won Congressional backing for canal improvements. By 1966, the annual total tonnage of the waterway exceeded 78,500,000 tons. Hundreds of companies now have plants or warehouses along the canal, several inland cities have become seaports, the canal helped make Houston the nation’s third largest port, and the low shipping costs created by the waterway have brought prosperity to the entire Texas Gulf Coast.