Page 20 - 2020GuidetoSPI_Neat

SOUTH PADRE

RESORT

RENTALS

Turn east and the marker can be found a few miles down the road the Singer’s herd numbered over 1500, but, this wasn’t the only source
towards Boca Chica Beach. of income for the newcomers. It was rumored that John and his boys,
Padre Nicholas Balli, for whom the Island gets its name, who were by now avid beachcombers, had accumulated somewhere
was the first European to bring families to the Island. Twenty- in the neighborhood of $60,000 worth of jewels, Spanish coins and
six miles north of the Island’s southern tip, he and his nephew Juan, gold bullion. When the Civil War broke out, John decided to move his
founded El Rancho Santa Cruz de Buena Vista (later known as the Lost family to Flour Bluff near Corpus Christi. But before leaving, figuring
City), where he kept cattle, horses and mules. The actual ranch and out- that his money would be safer buried on the Island, John and the boys
buildings were little more than thatched huts known as jacals. Because filled several stone jars and buried them at a site where they believed
of its natural fences of water, the Island was a perfect spot for raising live- they would easily be found in the future. After the War, the Singer’s
stock. In 1811, Padre Balli stated in his will that he owned 1,000 head returned for their treasure only to find that another great storm, much
of cattle. He also built the first church on the Island for the conversion like the one that had wrecked them twenty years earlier had totally inun-
of the Karankawa Indians and for the benefit of the settlers. Ironically, dated the Island, destroying the ranch headquarters and washing away
Balli never lived on the Island that bears his name today. He left the day all the markers John had planted. Though he and his sons were noted
to day operations of the ranch to his nephew Juan, who also held title beachcombers, the treasure would remain lost.
to a sizable amount of the Island, while he (the Padre) spent most of his By 1912, the southern part of Padre, now known as
time on the mainland ministering to the spiritual and material needs “Tarpon Beach,” was home to a hotel and a cluster of fishing
of his people. Padre Balli died on April 16, 1829, and was buried near camps. Visitors arrived by ferry boat and were offloaded near where
Matamoros. A statue of Padre Balli stands sentinel at the eastern foot Children’s Beach is located today in Isla Blanca Park. From there it was
of the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway. Juan operated the ranch a long walk across a wooden boardwalk that led to the shores of Padre
until the storm of 1844 after which he moved to the mainland. The Island. One had to be at the landing to catch the return ferry at dusk
ranch was abandoned, but only a few short years would pass before its or risk having to spend the night on the Island. Completion of the first
new occupants arrived on the scene. causeway in 1954 finally opened Padre Island to development. In the
John Singer’s lost treasure has been the subject of numerous ensuing years a second causeway replaced the first in 1974.
stories; the stuff from which legends are born. During the final The residents of the Island voted for incorporation in April 1973.
days of the Mexican War, John and Johanna Singer along with several Of the 158 votes cast, 128 were in favor of incorporation while 28 were
sons, had been beating down the coast in their schooner, the Alice against. Thus the Town of South x Island was born. In 2009, the pro-
Sadell, when a severe storm drove their craft aground near the center of posed Home Rule Charter was approved by the voters and South Padre
the Island. It was there the family discovered the remains of Santa Cruz, Island officially became a City. J
the old ranch owned by Padre Balli. The Singer’s bought the land from
Juan Balli in 1851 paying $2,500 for a like amount of acres that includ- Article contributed by Steve Hathcock www.southpadretv.tv, steve@south-
ed the headquarters of the old ranch. Wild cattle, left over from the padretv.tv
Padre’s ranch, were easy to catch and by the time Lincoln was elected,

20 spichamber.com