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width. Along the Gibraltar front, at the mouth of the straits, where 

 the bank is from 6 to 10 feet in height, the waters have advanced 10 

 feet inland. 



This abrasion of the coast has been in progress not only for the past 

 two or three seasons, but to some extent through the lluctuations of 

 level in the lakes during a much greater term of years. While the con- 

 figuration of the straits preserves the Canada shore in a great degree 

 from erosion by the current, its whole force is felt upon thu" western 

 coast; a much greater abrasion being prevented only by the low and 

 shelving character of a large portion. 



From the same cause, the marshes bordering the shores have been 

 greatly extended. Many acres of former arable land, both in Wayne 

 and Monroe, are now embraced by the waters. Numbers of orchards, 

 the growth of a century, have become a prey to the flood, and families 

 of the old French inhabitants are driven from homes till now occu: ied 

 from childhood. The United States road from Detroit to Monroe has 

 been rendered impassably at no less than three points, and the travel 

 forced into other and circuitous routes. 



Leaving to an abler pen the investigation of the causes of this un- 

 precedented rise, it may not be amiss to notice, briefly, such remedies 

 as have been tried, or may be proposed to check the devastations occa- 

 sioned by it. Should those causes continue to opeiate in maintaining 

 the present elevation of the waters, the subject will become of vast im- 

 portance to the interests of this portion of our State. Every foot of 

 coast now suffered to waste away, involves a loss much exceeding that 

 already sustained. The inconvenience now felt from the diminished 

 breadth of the river road below Detroit, calls for one of two remedies; 

 either the roadside must be protected by a dock along nearly its whole 

 extent, or a new and broader road must be opened in the rear and be- 

 yond such a probable future contingency. The former method, owing 

 to its expense, will, it is presumed, never be resorted to by public au- 

 thority, nor by individuals to much extent. 



Althouoh the erection of docks is undoubtedly the only permanent 

 protection, more simple remedies may to some extent prove of avail. 

 Quantities of brush, strewed thickly along the exposed bank, afford a 

 considerable protection against the direct force of the waves, and also 

 aid, by the retention of the sand and gravel brought up, to form a beach 

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