74 HAUPT — METHODS OF IMPROVING OCEAN BARS. -[May 3, 



to 34.2, yet because the lighter winds prevail longer from the south- 

 east he concludes that they are the determining factors, and over- 

 looks entirely the unmistakable record of the movements of the 

 inlets along this coast, as shown so clearly by the comparative 

 charts which he must have consulted in the reports to which refer- 

 ence is made. These show that the tall masonry lighthouse built at 

 Aransas Pass between 185 1 and i860, and which then stood abreast of 

 the inlet to light the channel and bar crossing, is now about two miles 

 to the north of the present position of the inlet and its bar, so that 

 St. Joseph's Island has been extending southward at the annual rate 

 of about 260 feet, while Mustang Island has been receding; and as 

 the channels do not move toward but away from the resultant, there 

 should be no cause for doubt as to the direction of the movement, 

 excepting to those who cannot correctly interpret nature's record. 



In further support of this inversion of the facts, the statement is 

 made that the foreshore on the northerly side of the jetty shows a 

 loss or scour of 1,270,000 cubic yards since 1895, an d that there is 

 no indication of this material having moved seaward, nor has it gone 

 through the opening between the breakwater and the shore into the 

 harbor, and as it would be inconsistent for the argument to have it 

 travel southward, he adds : 



" Of course this sand cannot have gone to the south over the 

 breakwater, otherwise there certainly would have been a fill close 

 behind the latter," so it must have gone north, and the assumption 

 is thus established. 



Unfortunately for this argument the original compact material 

 in place "close behind the breakwater" has been scoured out by the 

 natural currents even to a depth of over twenty feet and close to the 

 breakwater, as the author admits, consequently any loose band 

 carried over the breakwater would, d for/tori, be much less apt 

 to be lodged in these currents and would be at once carried out 

 and around the sandy spur to the southward, as has happened 

 and as is quite evident from the comparative charts ; so that the 

 statement by the writer is true that not only has this incomplete 

 breakwater removed about 600,000 cubic yards in place, but has 

 prevented the deposition of a much larger amount drifting in from 

 the north through the gaps and over the unfinished portions of the 

 structure. This action is so manifest as scarcely to require so long 

 an explanation, but for the misconstruction which has been put upon 

 it. At Cumberland the drift moved over the jetty and across the 



