86 BY FREDERIC J. CHURCHILL 



today. The owner is well known to the writer and told him 

 the facts. It consisted of several acres. As it was not dyked 

 off from the tides, and it was nearly all loose soil, it cannot be 

 considered as an average rate of erosion. 



On the banks of the Avon River, at Horton BluflF, near 

 Avonport, erosion is the rule; and a few miles north of Hants- 

 port the Dominion Atlantic Railway had to move its track 

 inland owing to the river cutting into its bank. 



At Hantsport old deeds show that erosion is taking place 

 rapidly; and during my brief experience, buildings have had to 

 be moved inland in order to save them. 



Fortunately there is a compensating force replacing in 

 other localities the destruction that takes place in the parts 

 that have been referred to. All of the rivers flowing into the 

 bay, carry into it their load of sediment, and one can readily 

 see these constructive changes as well as the destructive ones. 

 The Cornwallis River has built up a large delta at its mouth; 

 and the early Acadians, by dyking this marsh, reclaimed much 

 of this valuable farm land. This River is still extending its 

 delta, and at low tide, with the exception of a swim of about 

 100 yards, one can walk between Kingsport and Evangeline 

 Beach. Twenty years ago this was impossible according to 

 several old observors. 



Old charts show that the Avon River is fast building up its 

 Delta; and at Hantsport, places where vessels could once anchor 

 at low tide are now mud flats. The fact that the river is cutting 

 into its bank, proves that it is building up its flood-plain, as 

 rivers so doing begin to meander. 



At the mouth of Gaspereau River old deeds prove that the 

 river is increasing its delta and more marsh-land is appearing 

 above the low-tide line than thirty years ago. 



The changes taking place in this area makes a fertile field 

 for the speculation of the theory of isostasy. Many well-known 

 geologists, such as Sir Archibald Geikie, believe that, as a land 

 area receives heavy accumulation of sediments, it begins to 

 sink under its load, and the partly submerged forest at Bont 

 Island, north of Grand Pre, appears to testify to the correctness 

 of this theory. 



