The Elk Mountain pilot. [volume] (Irwin, (Ruby Camp), Gunnison County, Colo.) 1880-19??, 1919-08-28

rocks and stones and Quicksands, sloplng very
gradually into deep water. There Is probably no
finer freshwater bathing beach In the world.
Don't think Of the dunes as heaps Of bare sand
in desert. They exactly the reverse. They
have water. trees. shrubs, vines. flowers, grass.
birds and small wild animal life The truth Is that
the dunes are q great natural propagating garden
with most astonishing array Of trees ana pien"
and flowers This garden Is packed full OF nora
from the Lake Superior region the Atlantic coast,
the middle South and the western prairie. IL
seems to have almost everything In the plant line
from cactus to cranberries and from pines TO tuip
trees. A list Of only the most characteristic ana
important plant species numbers 2Oe.
To the ordinary visitor probably the spectacle
of the walking dunes Is the most Interesting.
Here he sees land In the making. Here TO-DAY ID
towering dune crowned with flowers and plants
and trees tomorrow 1t is gone and where 1t was -
a great blowout Of glistenng sand. with Its steep
sides strewn with dead trunks exhumed from an
ancient graveyard OF a previous forest. TOoay
there is a deep cash in the bluff; tomorrow Its
place Is taken by very lofty heap OF white
sand that has come up grain by grain out OF the
lake, on which grasses and plants and shrubs and
treeets already struggling for foOthold 10
day stands a forest the edge Of shallow pond;
tomorrow it is a cemetery. with even the tree
tops covered by sand marching In from the beach.
The accompanying map and diagram shows
where the material that builds the dunes is COM
ing from and how 1t gets there. Lake Michigan
has been taking material from the west shore and
depositing 1t at the dunes for period reckoneu at
about 5000 years. Previous to this period the
level of the lake was 80 60 feet higher than now
and the discharge toward the Mississippi at
n point near where are the Dunes When the
fce-gorge gacer which prevented the discharge
of water into the st. Lawrence was removed and
the lake drained into the Atlantic instead of the
gulf the level dropped, the present lake currents
set in and the building of the dunes was begun.
Public land surveys made in 1885 and sOtindings
Of Lake Michigan furnish the data for these
estimates: During the last 5000 years the waters
of the lake have washed away about 5OO square
miles of land from the shore extending from the
Indiana state line northward into Wisconsin.
Where this land was is now water FROM 30 to 90
feet deep The old shore line extends out from
three to nine miles then there Is an abrupt drop
of several hundred feet.
This is an unparalleled erosion; 1t is accounted
for nv the sOftness of the shore, which is largely
composed of material that ground very fine
nv the glaciers that deposited 1t. 1t is estimated
tint 100000 tons of soil Is taken~yearly by the
lake from the shore north Of Chicago So there
ia penty of material for building operations at
the dunes.
These facts suggest this interesting question:
What will happen to the dunes when the supply
of building material stops? ..i..
And stop 1t will, and that comparatively soon.
For the shore north of Chicago will in few years
he pretty solidly settled by people who have money
To sDend to prevent further erosion of the shore.
In fact erosion has already been stopped over
long stretches and in many places the shore has
been built out. The time is coming wheel the west
shore will be protected from erosion by piers and
breakwaters. The supply of building material for
the dunes will presumably stop. Perhaps then the
dunes will stop walking
Let us hope that long before that time the
Dunes National park will be peoples playground.
dedicated to public recreation forever.