The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-05
MARCH OF THE SEA.
Waters Encroaching Upon Large
Atlantic Coast Cities
New York and Philadelphia Were Once
Far lnland-Grest Changes Being
Wrought In the Original
shore Lines,

Once upon . time the sites Of Eew
York and Philadelphia were far inland
and there was dry land where now The
ships go sailing.
The sea is steadily encroaching upor
the land. In old maps, deeds and othe,
documents the shore lines recorded dc
not coincide with those Of the present
day. Comparisons Of Long Beach
from Barnegat Inlet, II miles south.
ward, on the United States coast sur.
vey maps, Of 1889 and 1871. shows that
during the intervening SO years the
shore line retreated more than one.
tenth Of mile. Each average year the
ocean advances a rod on the coast OF
New Jersey. This gain by the sea
amounts in each century to third Of g
mile, the seward slope being about six
feet per mile. The seaside resorts all
the way from Sandy Hook to Cape May
have suffered immense losses by the
march of Father Neptune.
Only last summer great changes were
made in the ocean front at Rockaway
beach and various places along the Jer-
sey coast. Long Branch has suffered
very severely, and 1t was not SO very
long ago that hotel at another great
seaside resort was dragged back by q
team Of locomotives from the threat
ening waves of the ocean. That the tides
now run higher than of old Is proved by
submerged forests and meadows. In
the official report Of the state geologist
Of New Jersey for 1889 there are ac-
counts Of ancient meadows and forests
considerably below high water mark,
recently exposed by the wear Of the
waves on the coast. Some of the trees
had been cut with the AK.
Prof. w. j. MCGEE told the writer of
buried cedar swamps. which have given
rise to singular ipdustry-the literal
mining of timber. At several points of
eastern New Jersey enormous quaint
ties Of white cedar and magnolia logs,
sound and fit for use, are found sub
merged in the salt marshes, sometimes
SO near the surface that roots and
branches protrude. Many of the trees
thus overthrown and buried were for
est giants.
Along the Carolina coast, Prof. Nc
Gee said, the advance of the ocean upor
the rice-growing islands has been noted
by observing residents during three
On the central gulf coast
the same thing is going on-the land is
steadily sinking. Forty years ago Lost
Island, a pleasure resort Of New Or
leans, was swallowed by the storm
waves, with most of its transient popu-
wealth and beauty of the
creole parishes"-and naught but tide
washed bank remains to mark its site.
More than once during later years viii
lagos and settlements on the gulf shores
and on the delta islands of the Missis-
sippi have been swept from the face of
the land and made the prey of the In
waters.
The cause of this sinking of the At
Iantic and gulf coasts is not far to seek.
The riverswhich empty into the Atlantic
from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, and
along the shore OF the gulf, carry out
into the ocean each year billions tons
of material. This matter is deposited
outside the oceans edge, and the weight
thus transferred causes steadily
depression Of the coast
line.
Geological sciences has escertained
that the entire crust of the earth is in
such a condition of sensitive equilibrium
hat the taking Of weight from one part
If it to the other brings about elevation
If the portion from which the weightis
-emoved and produces a corresponding
depression of the portion whero it is
added. In a word, the earth's crust is
n a condition of hydrostatic equilib-
.ium, and relatively as sensitive 10
changing pressure as tho beam Of the
balance.
If the water in the Atlantis ocean
we're dried up you would perhaps be
to observe that the eastern
dge of the great land mass called the
Worth American continent is not the
PRESENT beach line at ell. You would
zee that the continent itself extends far
,ut into the ocean distance varying
rom so to $50 miles. Once upon a
ime this terrace was all above the wa
er; the east shore of the continent had
very different shape, and there Yves
eep sea close to the coast Gradually.
wing TO the cause mentioned, this great
errace has sunk, so that the whole
astern edge of the continent is over
owed. Apparently. the entire eastern
oastal plain of the United States Is des-
med eventually to be submerged be-
cath the ocean. together with all its
opulous cities and fertile fields. 4
Prof. Arthur Hollack. of the geolog-
al department of Columbia college.
miled when his attention was called
D the SUBJECT of the sinking Of New
-ork.
at is not a very serious natter he |
aid, "as centuries will be required to |
lake any level along this coast But |
lat there is a gradual subsistence going !
n is quite well verified by careful ov-
ervation along the Atlantic shore |
he United States coast survey has
aid some attention TO this matter, and /
s reports show that there Is settling /
the coast line OF little over foot in
centEry."-N. Y. Herald.
TRACED A BABY
lfter scarehers Had Failed. the Animal