West Galveston Island

West Galveston Island. . , First known to world history in the 16th century, from report of Spanish soldier Cabeza de Vaca, who was shipwrecked on this island in 1528. Area was also visited by French explorer La Salle in 1685. Second known Caucasian to live here was the buccaneer Jean Lafitte, who had to fight Karankawa Indians for the site he chose as operating base for his pirate fleet in 1815 or 1816. In the 1820's a debarkation point for illegal slave ships developed on West Island., Humane and civilized traffic afterward found its way here. Stagecoach service was established in the 1850's from Galveston to Old Velasco (now Freeport) on a West Beach road, with a ferry at San Luis Pass. An important lace manufacturing concern was located here, and by 1885 the Galveston and Western Railway carried visitors by the hundreds to a race track near the center of the island., Since 1957 West Island has rapidly become a major recreational and resort area, with leisure homes fronting the Gulf, the canals and the bay. There is still enough wilderness to attract migratory shore birds; more than 95 per cent of the known species in America annually spend some time on this island.