Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-08-26
4 GREAT MOVING ISLAND.

Treacherous Sable, Which Is Well Called
the Cemetery of the Ocean.
Sable Island is again reported to
have partly disappeared. 1t is not
always correct to infer that Sable Is
land Is becoming smaller. because a
slice of it has been whitfield away.
1t may be found little later that the
debris had been piled up against some
other part of the coast, extending the
direction as it has lost ground in an
other. There is no doubt. however,
that in the past two centuries. Sable
Island has lost much of its area. A
good deal of the island is now
scattered over the bottom OF the At
lantic, where all mariners in the
neighborhood of the Grand Banks
would be glad to have what is left OF
it stay at rest Sable Island is about
hundred miles nearly east OF Hall
fax. Sailors never know whether
last years chart is a safe guide for
navigation in the adjacent waters
Many ship has been wrecked upon
it's treacherOus coast. 1t has been
called the cemetery of the ocean, and
the New York Sun thinks it deserves
the name. 1t would have no popula-
tion if the Canadian Government did
not find 1T necessary to support a
score of people to look after the
lighthouses and care for castaways
who are thrown upon the island.
II the French maps of two GEN.
turtles ago told the truth Sable Is
land has since that time lost more
than half its area Maps of the is
land made at intervals since 1918 show
remarkable changes in it's form and
position. Its western end is now
about twenty miles farther out to sea
than it was a century ago. The high
est sand dune, which was formerly
about two hundred feet above the sea
level, is now only about eighty feet
high. The shifting sands are con-
stantly changing the outline of the
curious little lake in the interior Just
as they do the contour of the coasts.
Sometimes this lake is wholly cut of
from the sea and at other times a wide
channel joins it with the Atlantic.
Years ago two small vessels took
refuge in this lake from a storm, only
to find that they were prisoners, un-
able to put to sea when ready to pur.
sue their voyage. In a single night
the Atlantic sometimes eats up many
acres OF the great sand heap only tc
build it up in some other direction.
Its present form is crescent, with
its convex side to the south. Two OF
the three lighthouses built since 1886
were undermined by the invading
ocean, and while ago the third was
badly damaged and will probably have
to be replaced.
1t is fortunate that there are moi
many similar impeuiments in the
most frequented tracks OF commerce
Sable. however, is only an exagger
ated type of moving islands in vari
Gus parts of the world. Winds, storms
and currents are constantly changin,
the OuJlihes of not a few low, SANDY
islands in the Pacific. Baker Island
lying under the equator north of thu
Phoenix Archipelago, is a very curious
instance OfAthese changes. In sum
mer the wind blows almost steadil,
from the southeast and the axis O.
the big sand bank extends directly
east and west. In winter, when tn,
dominating atmospheric current
comes from the northeast, the banl
moves south, the extreme annual os
cillation in the position Of the islane
being about 700 feet