Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-18

1
| the channels have been made deeper in the
| past ten or twenty years and that this is
| due to the sinking of the earth along the
| Atlantic coast.
| scientists assert that the coast line OF
| the Atlantic sinks into the ocean there is
| a proportionate rise in the coast line on the
Pacific: This fact has been established be-
yond doubt.
Island Has Disappeared
1t is figured by persons competent to talk
| on the subject that in less than one hum
| dred years from now beautiful and fertile
| Kent island will have sunk into the bay
and Hoopers island, Sharps island, Barren
island. Taylors island and Holland island
and others will have disappeared and moth
| ing of them will remain to remind future
/ generations of these beautiful places
Cobbs island, once a famous fishing and
cunning place. has disappeared from the
surface of the bay, and other islands equally
famous years ago have been swallowed up
| IN the great action of nature.
In talking over the matter yesterday
Provost Philip r. Uhler said that there was
no doubt that the entire face of the coast
| line was sinking into the sea and that the
| ISLANDS In the Chesapeake would meet the
same fate.
DR.. Uhler has made a study of the mat
| ter and Is deeply interested in the action
| of the sea. He said that Kingston's prob
able fate was due to the earthquake, which
had shaken the coral coast line to its very
| foundation and caused 1t to 1 sintegrate.
Continuing, he said, in regard to the
sinking:
Several years ago ! was dredging along
the Atlantic coast for specimens of ami
mails which inhabited those waters and at
a depth of about 1GO feet l got grass and
other evidences of marshy land in my
dredge. Coming farther in shore, | found
a stretch of sand Then at a less depth
another marsh, and so on, until | was able
to locate six marshy layers, one on top of
the other, showing that the shore had been
! marshy then raised. then again sub
| merged, again marshy. and so on. And SO it
| will continue until he end of time.
All along the coast these changes are
| taking place, and they should not be the
source of any trouble to biologists, for the
cause of them is easily learned. Rela-
| tive to Boston sink: G. one foot a century,
| | will only say that there evidences that
| not so many centuries ago Boston was
| twenty-five miles farther from the seacoast
| than now. In other words, the twenty-five
miles of land in between Boston and the
| coast has been completed submerged"
Cypress Swamp Submerged
At the foot of Eutaw street could be seen
a number of years ago the stumps of what
was formerly a cypress swamp. Slowly
but surely, these stumps have been disap-
pearing until now they are almost entirely
hidden from view beneath the water of
Spring Gardens. In the neighborhood of
along the bay shore can be seen like phe
nomena.
Speaking of this general action along the
seaboard. Provost Uhler said: when a
stone is thrown into the water. does NJ the
water rise? And when large masses are
| thrown into the se,-, does not it rise and
spread out, seeking such balance as 1t
formerly had? Each big tide carries with
it abundance of water into the tribu-
taries of the ocean, and if for any reason
the progress of the water is impeded. it
spreads and encroaches on the surrounding
shores, carrying with ii sediment, which is
deposited in other places.
In regard to Sharps Island. as cor
roboration that the bottom of the Chesa-
peake bay is sinking, is given the follow
ing figures: In 1909 the island consisted of
100 acres. In 1906 there are but 30 acres
showing that in % years $50 acres of land
had been swallowed up in the Chesapeakes
great mfw
Cooks Point at the mouth of the Chop
tank river. has lost 13 acres to the Chesa-
peake in 80 years. The crabbers and fish
ermen on Smiths Island now ply their voca-
tons over the graves of their an
cestors and where at one time there were
blooming fields and orchards.
On Western Shore
The sinking of the western shore of the
Chesapeake is more noticeable. 1t was
stated yesterday that where once was Fair
Haven, Il weil-known excursion resort of
% or 80 years ago, there is now waste of
water. showing that the land had sum-, out
of sight. carrying with it all traces of the
old place.
The slow sinking of the Atlantic coast is
a fact well known to American biologists.
but the definite measurements the rate
of the subsistence is a matter of scientific
interest.
AS long ago as 1868 the late Prof. George
H. Cook, state geologist of New Jersey. in
vestigated this matter thoroughly, collect
ing numerous observations indicative of the
encroachments of the sea on the Atlantic
coast and particularly along the coast of
his own state Subsequent Investigations
made by the United States geological sur
vey have demonstrated that the encroach-
mentS of the were not of a local char
acter alone. but a condition characteristic
of the entire Atlantic seaboard. including
the Chesapeake and the other bays along
the coast, Long Island and Pamlico sounds