38 OPENING OF HATTERAS INLET. 



" No mention is made of the inlet having been recently formed. I 

 have written to the officer who made this survey and also to others 

 who from their age and interest in the locality would be likely to 

 know something of it, and so far as any of them know, the inlet has 

 existed from remote times. Can your question refer to Oregon Inlet, 

 at Bodie's Island, considerably higher up the coast? That inlet was 

 formed by the hurricane of Sept. 8, 1846." 



This answer was not satisfactory, and Jan. 25th, a commu- 

 nication was sent to Hon. Thos. J. Jarvis, Governor of 

 North Carolina, asking the same questions, and giving the 

 result of the enquiry at Washington, as set forth above. 

 Jan. 28th the Governor replies : 



" There was a time in the present half century when there was no 

 Hatteras Inlet. It was cut out in some great storm within that time. 

 I cannot to-day give you the exact date, but will do so soon." 



This was encouraging, but the matter lay dormant until 

 a letter was received from Gov. Jarvis, dated April 14, as 

 follows : 



"After considerable delay, I have at last got upon the track of the 

 information you desired, as to the opening of Hatteras Inlet. It took 

 me some time to get hold of a man who could fix the exact time. I 

 have inquired of many and most of them like myself had a general idea 

 of the fact that it was cut out some forty years ago." 



A letter dated April 22d was next received from Gov. 

 Jarvis, enclosing one from Col. Jno. D. Whitford of New 

 Berne, N. C., to the Governor, and one from Redding R. 

 Quidley, Esq., of Hatteras Inlet to Col. Whitford. Col. 

 Whitford's letter contained an account of a chart in his pos- 

 session dated 1738, made by James Wimble, on which an 

 inlet is shown between Ocracoke Inlet and Cape Hatteras ; 

 and Mr. Quidley's letter contained an account of the cut- 

 ting through of the present inlet in Sept. 1846. 



Here was a starting-point, and the next step was to 

 determine, if possible, when the old inlet closed, where it 



