Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-02-23
TIE CITIZEN.
MADE IN ONE NIGHT.
How the Harbor of Marshfield, Cape
Cod Bay, Was Formed.
4 Northeast Gale piled Up the SAND
and Created Valuable An
choraEe for the Coast
shipping.

Years ago Marshfield, situated on
Cape Cod bay, about half way between
Cohasset and Plymouth, was a bus
Ting little coast town, and was in fact
one of the shipbuilding towns OF note
in the country's earliest history Inc
famous trading brig Columbia, after
which the Columbia river was named,
was built here. az were also several yes
sells used as priyateers in the war o1
1912 If it had been allowed to work
ont it's own destiny, Marshtield might
even now be a thriving town like Es-
sex. which is known for its honest and
thorough ship-building wherever the
fishermen of New England guide their
restless keels. But nature intervened,
and walled the town up in prison, the
like Of which may be seen at many
places on sandy Cape Cod.
Originally the mouth of the river
was at point nearly opposite the town.
but gradually, as the soil washed down
bv the river and the sand worked up
by the seat met, q bar formed extend
ing from the north side of the rivers
mouth across it, thus stopping the
swift. direct flow which had always
kept the channel free and clear. Then
the river turned south, and the sandbar
followed it, growing in size as the
flow of the river decreased, until 1t
had become a good-sized promontory
inside of which the river flowed, with
an outlet far to the southwark OF the
original one opposite the town. Being
turned out of its regular channel IN TINS
way, the river also broadened and shall
lowed. The current slackened, and the
deposits carried down by it were
dropped inside, instead of outside, the
mouth, while throughout the little
rdadstead inside the old mouth islets
formed, so that there were few good
places for q boat to lie, even If any
thing more than the shoalest draught
could have got in over the bars at the
mouth.
So Marshfeld remained behind its
barrier of sand and peat until the night
of November 26, when the big storm set
in. All night long the fierce north
east gale piled the water up against
the outside of the promontory, and on
the following day, in conjunction with
the gale, came one of the highest tides
of the year. The water rose until at
length ii broke clear over low place
in the promontory, between what are
known as third and fourth cliffs, and
swept up into the river with all the
power of the high tide and hurricane at
its back. The river was filled until the
water rose over the bridge and up
into the street at Marshfield, and hun
dreds of acres of the big marshes "
ing to the southeast of the town, and
from which it takes its name, were
covered several feet with water.
When all this immense body of water
started on its return to the sea with the
falling tide, it was impossible for 1T to
get out quickly enough by the shallow
and devious way through the mouth of
the river, so it went out in the way
most of it had come in, by the break
made by the sea over the promontory,
and the securing of this strong tide
undid in single night the work of
many years. When the Marshfield folk
visited the place the next day they
found, where there had been solid
ground As hours before, a clean-cut
channel, 250 feet wide and 10 feet deep
for it's full width, through which the
tide ran like millrace, while in the
older mouth of the river there was
hardly and movement. For a mile or
more outside of the cut the water was
discolored by the dirt and refuse
which were being carried out by the
current, and even then it was evident
the bars and islets which had filled the
harbor were being washed away.
The work that began then has been
going steadily on ever since. Many of
| the little islets which had formed in
| the harbor have entirely disappeared,
| and others are growing smaller every
| day. There is a straight, free entrance
| to the sea, which is in more direct
| line with the flow of the river than
even the old mouth of years ago, and
through which a good-sized vessel can
enter at any stage of the tide. Inside
| of it is harbor large enough for quite
a fleet to anchor, with good holding
gre RI and from 80 to 40 feet of water
in t places, while the rush of the
tide appears to be deepening both chan
| mel and roadstead.
If matters continue as favorably as
| they have begun, the harbor thus
strangely created will be a very val
liable one, not only to Marshfeld itself
| but to our coast shipping, and even
more to our yachtsmen. Up to now
there has not been a single good harbol
on the south shore, as the outer harbol
of Plymouth is not safe anchorage
| for small craft, and the inner harbol
| can be gained only by skilled pilot
| Between Plymouth and Hull there are
| only Scituate and Cohasset. Both OF
| these are shoal, and the latter is with
out sufficient protection from a north
| east gale.-Boston Transcript.
! Lard Snucc.
1 This Is n delicious cold sauce to serve