The Forgotten Machines That Raised an Entire City 17 Feet — Galveston, 1902

After a hurricane killed 8,000 people in Galveston, the city decided to raise itself 17 feet instead of moving. They cut a canal through the middle of town, brought in four German hopper dredges, and pumped 16.3 million cubic yards of sand from the harbor through the streets. Every building — 2,156 of them — was jacked into the air on hand-turned screws while people lived inside. They walked to work on wooden catwalks ten feet above the ground while sand was pumped beneath their houses. One 3,000-ton church was lifted on 700 jackscrews and held Sunday Mass on schedule. The contractor went bankrupt. A dredge was lost at sea. The city kept pumping. Seven years later, Galveston had raised itself out of reach of the next storm. #Galveston #GradeRaising #HurricaneHistory #CivilEngineering #ForgottenHistory