Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-18
MARCH OF THE OCEAN.
How the Atlantic 10 Devouring This CONT
nent-Bad Prospects for the Future


How the Atlantic 10 Dsvourang This CONT
nent-Bad Prospects for the Future.
iFTNHE ATLANTIC COAST LINE FROM CAPE
Il Cod to Cape Hatteras. which at this season Of
the year is fringed with merry bathers is retreat
ing with . steady and alarming rapidity be-
fore the waves Of the ocean," said . geolo-
gist TO . STAR writer. Each average year
the waters advance one rod inland where NO
bluffs afford temporary and receding barrier.
Property owners at summer resorts all along
the shore view with dread the encroachment Of
the sea, trying their best to oppose its progress
with breakwaters and other feeble expedients-
Nevertheless, the eating away Of the shore still
proceeds. memorable Neptune devouring it inch
by inch. Ocean avenue at Long Branch only a
few years ago was Q broad road, now it Is q
narrow one comparatively. its width decreasing
annually. At other points the beaches Of q
generation back are hundreds Of yards out at
sea. The seaside cottage with broad lawn
before 1t, has an expectation Of life Of . de-
cade or so perhaps, but it must 60. Not long
since huge hotel at q popular summer city
haa 20 De dragged by team Of locomotives q
considerable distance to escape the waters
which were undermining it.
Along the gulf coast from Mobile bay to
tne mouth OF the Mississippi the same direful
process Is going on. Villas and orange
groves on the shore are swept away and inun-
dated by the advancing waves. Thirty-four
years ago Last Island. q health and pleasure
resort OF New Orleans, was swallowed up by
the storm waters. with most Of its tram
sient population, and only tide-washed bank
remains to mark its site. More than once since
then villages and settlements on the margin Of
the gun ana upon the delta islands of the Mis-
sissippi have been wiped from the face Of the
land. All these occurrences tell the same
story OF encroachment by the ocean upon the
THE COAST HAS REITERATED.
comparison of maps shows that the At
iantic coast from Barnegat inlet twelve miles
southwark, known as Long Beach, has in
tnirty-two years retrested 545 feet-more than
one-tenth Of mile. Surveys of Cape MAY
county demonstrate that within the last
century the shore along 1t has receded three
quarters OF a mile. On the Carolina
coast the advance Of the sea upon
the rice plantations has been. going on
steadily for three generations. .The sea is de-
vouring the land, says Lafcadio Hearn. Many
ana many mile of ground has yielded to the
tireiess charging Of oceans cavalry. Far out
you can see with good glass the porpoises at
pay where OF old the sugar cane shook out its
million bannerets. and shark fms are now seen
to coo.' f'e'A' 1'eN
Zone curious feature Of these alterations of
the coast line by the encroachment of the seas
is found in the exposure by the advancing
waters OF ancient meadows and forests long
buried. In this manner have been disclosed TO
view old cedar swamps, and thus q singular in
oustry-actual mining for timber-has been
created. At several points in eastern
New Jersey enormous quantities of white
cedar and magnolia logs, sound and fit for use,
fnrrv Il ,tN,.,a Il. L
salt marshes. Many of the trees thus ex-
humed were forest giants. In the Great Cedar
swamp, on the creek of the same name the
trunks reach diameter Of seven feet
The cause of all this is that the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts are actually sinking and the rate
the official geologist of New Jersey at two feet
per century. Now, the general seward slope
OF the edge Of the continent is about six feet to
the mile, SO that the sinking of each one hun
dred years gives third Of a mile of lowland
to the ocean. This would seem to be rather less
than the rate OF encroachment indicated by
comparison of maps made at successive periods.
Modern geologic science has ascertained that
the entire crust of the earth is in a condition
OF such sensitive equilibrium that the taking
OF weight from one part Of it to another brings
about elevation of the portion from whence
the weight is removed and produces a cor
responding depression Of the portion where
1t Is added. The rivers which empty
into the Atlantic from Cape Cod to Cape Hat
teras and along the shore of the gulf carry out
into the ocean each year billions of tons Of
material. which is thus deposited outside the
oceans edge. The weight thus transferred
causes steadily progressive depression Of the
coast line.
WHERE THE CONTINENT EXTENDS.
III all the water in the Atlantic ocean were
dried up you would perhaps be surprised to
observe that the eastern edge Of the great land
mass which We call the North American CONT
nent is not the present beach line at all. You
would see that the continent itself extends far
out into the ocean, distance varying from 90
to lou miles. Once upon q time this terrace
was all above the water; the east shore of
the continent had a very different shape,
there was deep sea close to the coast. and the
localities where now are situated New York
Philadelphia and Boston were far inland
Gradually. owing to the causes have mem
toned. this great terrace has sunk SO that ships
are sailing over what was a few thousands Of
years ago dry land. So short time, from the
geological point of view has been required to
effect this change that the beds Of the Hudson,
the Potomac and other great streams are still
deep channels cut out Of the terrace, a sufi-
cient period not having elapsed for filling them
up with detritus.
The process by which this was accomplished
Is steadily and progressively going on. Each
year the Atlantic shore ine-and the came is
true of the Gulf coasts farther westward by
an average distance OF a rod For each CEN
fury there is loss of one third of mile to the
edge OF the continent. How long is it going to
be at this rate before the eastern coastal plain
of the United States is submerged beneath the
ocean, together with all its populous cities and
fertile fields! These plains. originally fashioned
by the sea, the ocean is retaining for its own
Its octopus arms are seiZing them in their en-
brace and day by day. month by month. year
by year, generation by generation, tine monster
is creeping further and further inland. Its
power is too great for puny man to oppose sue
cessfully; he can only slowly retreat before the
invasion"