Reclamation of Land Wastes. 283 



ing upon the severity of the wind and location, our dunes have about 

 the same rate of movement as those in France and South Africa. 

 The rapidity of movement will vary from a few inches to a number 

 of feet annually, depending most largely upon the force of the 

 wind. Along the Bay of Biscay, in Gascony, France, there is a 

 belt of sand dunes which vary in width from one-quarter to five 

 miles and cover an area of about two hundred and fifty thousand 

 square miles. Where these dunes are not fixed by grass or groups 

 of trees they advance eastward at a given rate of about sixteen feet 

 per year. Marsh, in his "Earth as Modified by Human Action," 

 says of these dunes : 



"It is not known historically when the dunes began to drift, but 

 if we suppose their motion to have been always the same as at 

 present they would have passed over the space between the sea coast 

 and their present eastern border and covered the area of two hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand square miles in fourteen hundred years." 



EXTENT AND INJURY FROM DUNE MOVEMENT. 



In various parts of the world dunes in their movement have buried 

 extensive forests, fields, and even villages and cities, and have 

 changed the course of rivers. The lighter portions of the sand 

 carried from these dunes by winds have turned lands formerly 

 fertile into worthless barrens. Along the coast of Denmark the 

 dunes in the course of tv/o or three centuries have moved several 

 miles inland, covering forests and villages. 



In our own country the movement and injury from dunes has 

 been extensive, yet, with a few exceptions, has not caused the loss 

 of valuable lands or forests. Upon Cape Cod, in the southern half 

 of Long Island, on the coast of New Jersey, and southward along 

 the Carolina coasts, and along the Pacific coast, from the mouth of 

 the Columbia River southward to Golden Gate Park in California, 

 there exist areas of more or less active dunes, which, unless held, 

 will probably do much damage in the future. Along the eastern 

 shore of Lake Michigan, and along the Columbia River in Washing- 

 ton and Oregon, moving dunes have caused much damage by cover- 

 ing railroad tracks and encroaching upon fields and cities. Along 

 the Snake River Division of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation 

 Company's line, from five to eight thousand dollars per year have 

 been spent in keeping the tracks free from sand. At Riparia, on 

 the above division, large railroad shops, hotels, and other buildings 



