south limit of Shorehara village consists of two sections; the northerly 

 section 13,360 feet long to the south end of the State Highway protec- 

 tive works including the city and railroad frontages being 31.9 percent 

 publicly owned and the southerly section developed for residential use 

 being entirely privately owned. The 1950 population of Berrien County 

 was 115,702. The larger cities of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor and 

 populations of 10,223 and 18,769 respectively. The population of the 

 smaller resort communities are greatly increased during the summer 

 months. 



The Berrien County shore is characterized by high sandy clay bluffs 

 and sand dunes fronted generally by narrow sand beaches, especially 

 narrow at high lake stages. High sandy clay bluffs extend alongshore 

 from the vicinity of the city of St. Joseph water-supply pumping station 

 to the northern portion of Lincoln Township, including Shoreham village. 

 Sand dune regions exist along the shores of Lincoln Township in the 

 vicinity of Grand Marais Lakes and south thereof, Lake Township and in 

 New Buffalo Tcwnship south of Galien River. A Federally maintained 

 harbor at St. Joseph includes two parallel entrance jetties and a navi- 

 gation channel of 21-foot depth. The St. Joseph and Paw Paw Rivers 

 discharge into Lake Michigan through the harbor. The shores for about 

 a mile north of the harbor structure amd 1,200 feet south thereof have 

 been advancing lakeward since the entrance structures were built. South 

 of the latter accreting area, hcwever, erosion of the bluffs has been 

 severe, causing the loss of or necessitating the movement of a number of 

 valuable residences and threatening a railroad and public highway. Numer- 

 ous protective structures have been erected but have exhibited only 

 moderate effectiveness. Foremost of these measures are an extensive 

 bulkhead and groin system erected to protect the railroad right-of-way, 

 and a groin system erected by the Mighican State Highway Department for 

 protection of the bluff fronting U. S. Highway No. 12. 



Lake Michigan is over 300 miles long, and about 70 miles wide 

 opposite St. Joseph. The highest monthly mean lake level recorded 

 since 1900 was 4.2 feet above low water datum. Short period fluctu- 

 ations up to about 1.8 feet, caused by winds and differences in baro- 

 metric pressures, occur with annual frequency. The design lake stage 

 is 5 feet above low water datum. Of winds which generate waves affect- 

 ing the area, those from the north have the greatest fetch, about 225 

 miles. Those from the southwest have a fetch of about 50 miles. During 

 severe storms with a frequency of about once a yeax, waves may range up 

 to .11 feet in height in deep water, but ordinarily waves of this height 

 break before reaching the shore structures. Waves from both the north- 

 west and southwest quadrants cause movement of beach material, but as 

 evidenced by the much greater accumulation of material north of the St. 

 Joseph Harbor structures, the predominant direction of littoral trans- 

 port is southward. The navigation channel at St. Joseph Harbor is 

 dredged annually to maintain project depth, and for this reason little 

 or no beach building material is believed to pass the harbor entrance 

 and reach the downdrift shore. The rate of littoral transport is 

 estimated at 100,000 cubic yards per year. 



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