The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-30
why CORPUS CHRISTI
FELL VICTIM TO FLOOD

! out the city of Corpus Christi, and
{ devastated other gulf towns Is con-
! tanned in bulletin from the washing
ton headquarters OF the National
Geographic society.
The bulletin RECALLS that the CAL
/ weston food Of 1900, which resulted
I in the erection OF the staunch sea
walls that prevented recurrence OF
/ desolation al Galveston, was not the
| fret calamity of that sort which has
/ visited Southern cities.
Witness the swallowing OF L'Isle
Derniere, a health and pleasure re-
sort OF New Orleans with most of its
transient population Just forty-four
years before Galveston" the bulletin
says, quoting from a communication
| 10 the society
! The student who scans the shores
| of Atlantic and CUR. either on the
ground or on the admirable maps of
| the coast ard geodetic survey and
| the photographic office OF our navy
/ soon perceives that the relations be-
tween wave-huilt bars and wave-cut
sea-clifs vary from coast-stretch to
coast stretch. On tho New Jersey
coast the bars are beaten well back
i to or beyond the line OF the sea-
/ cliffs. So that the ponds or sounds
/ behind the bars arc relatively shorE
| ana dlScontinuouS; along the Florida
coasts the keys stand farther out to
: sea and are separated from the
| mainland by great elongated sounds
often aHording navigable Waterways;
while about the northern shores of
the Gulf the relations of the keys to
/ sounds are more variable.
/ Closer study serves 10 interpret
fthese variable relations. From Florida
westward 10 Mobile Bay the keys are
I nearly continuous and the sounds long
| and narrow; thence westward 10 Lake
/ Lorgne the typical keys are lost,
! though their lines continue in a series
1 OF islands~-Ship island Horn island
! Cat island, etc.-~4scparatcd from tho
/ mainland by The broad Mississippi
Sound; still further westward a new
series of keys. erratic in form and
! trend, appears In the Chandelier
island ard beyond the delta there is a
corresponding (and corrospondinglv
/ erratic) series of low keys stretching
west ward nearly or quite to Atcha-
falaya Bay
| Now, the mainland shore Of Missie
| sippl Sound is marked by a series Of
| Small and narrow keys and sounds.
! evidently In process Of growth bu.
| much loss advanced than those east
| OF Mobile Bay, and these are among
/ me evidences that along this stretch
/ OF shore the Gulf has cncroached on
me land 70 such an extent as to leave
Inc original keys twenty to forty miles
/ Pehind Similarly the Chandelier kew
Rahd the corresponding series west OF
! me delta are 81 W and now and
! pbNlousiy connected with the delta
| building
West Of Atchafalaya bay the coast
| rs characterized by the absence of
Keys and sounds ff bn
5of'' ilke those OF the inland shore Of
Mississippi sound. so thai this shore
seems incongruous with the rest. until
Inc student discovers the long line OF
eoh pietely submerged keys-Sabine
Ia IN X. trinity ShoaL- Ship Shual,- etc
~ . position precisely corresponding
10 The islands south Of Mtssissinpi
sound and forming a direct submarines
| connection tsave as cut OF by the
aeifal between these islands Of tho
( eastern gulf and the well-devclopea
Keys of the southern Texas shore.
The position Of these banks. like
that Of the Horn Island ana It's fel
| lows. is such nv to demonstrate that
'lfo waters have invaded the mainland
and thai west Of the delta the en-
1yRas hncn Mt has been sufficient no.
| nc rely 70 push back the shoreline 50 to
I Ivy miles but completely to Fuh1ners-o
| The ancient keys,
i"t iHHSl striking feature Of these
/ drowned and half drowned kcvs to
tbs aylnmUtrlc arrangement exeept for
| lne interruption by the delta furlth fts
/ new and LESSER sand baniGs}, the vraat
! bars f"Fm a sweeping curve regular
| rs The beach line OF y land-lockea ha+;
and hence afford a rough measure If
The outhulialng If the delta IS wen az
Of ne Invasion IF tho 9ul1 q It's
| AankE Hardly less striking than tan
ayfnaietr3- " thu series is tia eIosenefs
ot continuity between keys and
! hanks apdHt is a significant fact that
Galveston Island is tho northeastern,-
terminus Of tbe west-ooast svstc-n of
keys. the last stretch \ these SAND
( hanks sim rising above the level Of
tide.
1T is the business Of the geoloeist
ia detect and weigh the evidences of
/ subsistence or elevation Of coasts and
10 estimate the rates Of movement for
the guidance Of local residents and
investors and it hchoovex such citi-
@rns To avail themselves of the ,scien-
tific researches.
The observations on the rise and
lall tof various coasts are impressive
Hotland derives its name from it's sub
&idence, coupled with tho building Of
dlkes for the protection Of the land:
the Island of Batavia inhabited in
The days Of Tacitds. Is drowned;
|u%deF zee was formed by an inVa
sion of the sea about the end OF the
thirteenth century and the Neither
lands rolders Cor dixie protected landse
are maintained only by artificial EN-
bankments which have been raised
from generation to generation until
now cultivated fields lie seven to ten
meters below tide level
The measure OF the rate Of sub
sidence of the Holland coast ranges
from 90 to rs meter per century;
since lT32 the mean has been 20
meter or nearly a foot, per century
Tho ubsidence Of the New Jersey coast
was estimated a two fest per century
by State Geologiat Cook, it has con-
tinued SO long that fresh water cedar
swamps have been submerged and the
forests inlbodded in satire Inuciss
whence 1t is a profitable business to
mine the logs for lumber: and In con-
sequence of the current sinking the
Atlantic Is &ucFuacfing and swallow
ing or destroying estate aud homes 10
the value Of many thousand dollars an
nually. The subsistence of the gulf
coast is less confidently known; but the
geologic indications are that Il Isl
fat least between Mobile bay and Gal
weston harhor) nearly as rapid as on
the New Jersey coast and more rapid
than on the Nntherland coast al least
since the building OF the dikes, SO
that the rate cannot Justly be estimated