Ohio. Sandusky Bay is located on the south shore of ^ake Erie about 

 midway between Toledo and Cleveland, Its entrance and eastern end have 

 been improved by the United States for navigation, Sandusky County had 

 a pop-olation of ii3,l52 in 1950. The city of Sgndusky and Erie County 

 exclusive of that city had populations of 29p60 and 23,102 respectively. 

 The property along the shore line of the study area is devoted mainly 

 to agriculture, but some summer homes have been built along the shore. 

 Inland areas are devoted principally to the agricultural uses. The shore 

 in the study area is all privately owned, 



Sandusky Bay is a shallow body of water almost completely land 

 locked, and connected to Lake Erie at its eastern end, Sandusky River 

 drains into the bay at its western end. The shore line of the study area 

 consists of eroding bluffs of lacustrine clay, rising to a height of 

 about 8 feet above low water datum, with little or no beach fronting 

 the bluffs. It has been estimated that only about li4 percent of the 

 material in the upper 3 feet of the bluffs is coarser than silt. From 

 the toe of the bluff, beach and offshore bottom slopes are very flat, 

 as is also the adjacent topography at the top of the bluff. No protective 

 structures have been constructed in the study area, but a stone dike was 

 constructed in 19U8 to protect a low marshy area about one mile east of 

 the study area. Small quantities of accretion on the east sides of small 

 impermeable boat landings along the shore line in areas adjacent to the 

 study area indicate a tendency for the small quantity of material avail- 

 able to move westward. 



The mean level of lake Erie for the months of March to December 

 is about 1.6 feet above the established low water datum. The highest 

 lake stage and the highest monthly mean recorded at Cleveland, Ohio, are 

 respectively 5.25 and about k feet above low water datum. The average 

 water levels of Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie are approximately the same 

 over a period of time, but for Lake level changes of short duration the 

 bay level fails to reach the extreme of the lake level due to its narrow 

 entrance. During severe northeasterly storms, the bay could infrequently 

 reach a level in the study area of about 5 feet above low water datum. 

 Due to the shallow depth of the bay under normal conditions, waves seldom 

 exceed 2f feet. The maximum wave hei^t that need be considered in design- 

 ing structures where no protective beach exists is probably 2 feet. At 

 low lake levels the flat slope cf the bay bottom and the foreshore pro- 

 tect the bluffs from erosion by wave action, but with higher levels of 

 water in the bay, waves reach and break directly against the bluff. Most 

 of the material eroded from the bluffs, due to its fineness, is apparently 

 deposited offshore by wave action. Consequently, little beach building 

 material is available for transport by littoral forces. Erosion of the 

 bluffs can be arrdsted by sloping the bluffs and armoring them with wave 

 resistant material. 



The district and division engineers, and the Beach Erosion Board 

 concluded that the most practical and economical method of protecting the 

 shores of Sandusky Bay within the study area is by grading the existing 

 vertical bluff aM placing quarry-run stone on a filter blanket of crushed 



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