Alex Gilmer (1829-1909) built 15 schooners from 1860 until the 1880s and then got out of the wooden ship building business to concentrate his efforts in his lumber business. The first keel boat he built was the "Swan" in 1856 and it promptly sank in the treacherous Chattahoochee River.

One of Alex "Sandy" Gilmer's blockade runners was the "Joshiah H. Bell" and was involved in the battle of Sabine Pass. It only had one 24 lb. cannon and did not play a large role in the battle. During that action the "Joshiah H. Bell" was navagated by Alex "Sandy" Gilmer and while hiding from the Federal gunboats, Gilmer managed to find a navigable waterway around the main channel. Gilmer got the talent for finding navigable channels when he was operating a steamer on the Chattahoochee River. Before the Corps of Engineers improved the Chattahoochee River, the waterway could be treacherous during periods of low water in the fall and winter. During those periods, the channel was only navigible from Columbus Georgia to the Gulf by shallow draft barges and keelboats that drew less than 7 feet of water. When snow and rain in the mountainous watershed raised the water level in the spring, the waterway was navigable to larger vessels such as the "Altha Brooks" which regularily sailed from Columbus Georgia to New Orleans, Galveston and navigated the Trinity, Sabine and Colorado Rivers for a number of miles in Texas.