WHERE THE WIND DOES THE WORK 



By Collier Cobb 



Professor of Geology in the University of North Carolina 



NO portion of the North American 

 Continent is so widely known, 

 and at the same time so little 

 known, as the chain of low-lying islands 

 and fringing sand reefs extending along 

 the North Carolina coast for a distance 

 of more than three hundred miles. This 

 is especially true of Hatteras Island, a 

 sand spit whose dangerous projection and 

 shifting shoals have made this portion of 

 .our Atlantic seaboard a veritable grave- 

 yard of American shipping. 



Distinguished scientists on both sides 

 of the Atlantic have discussed the origin 



Sail Car on Church's Island, N. C 



of Cape Hatteras without having set foot 

 on the island or coasted along its shores. 

 The origin of well nigh all the features 

 of this coast have been discussed at long 

 range, and yet hardly half a dozen people 

 from the outside world have any personal- 

 acquaintance with the island. 



It was on this coast that Fessenden 

 and Thiessen experimented successfully 

 with wireless telegraphy. At Kitty Hawk r 

 on these banks, the Wrights conducted 

 their experiments in mechanical flight. 

 Though difficult of access, the inhab- 

 itants of these islands are in close touch 

 with the rest of the world by 

 means of the telegraph and tele- 

 phone lines of the U. S. Weather 

 Bureau and the Life Saving; 

 Service, as well as by the wire- 

 less telegraph. 



Those who watch the reports 

 of shipping need not to be told 

 that winds are constant in this 

 region. The strong winds of 

 midwinter come from the north, 

 and the gentler steady winds of 

 midsummer and of the greater 

 part of the year blow usually 

 from a little west of south. 



These constant winds were 

 early taken advantage of by the 

 inhabitants, and windmills for 

 grinding corn dot the whole 

 chain of islands, though most 

 of them have now fallen into 

 disuse. A small boy on Church's 

 Island hauls freight for the 

 people of his village on a car 

 furnished with a sail and pro- 

 pelled by the wind. 



The frequency of wrecks 

 upon this coast is too well 

 known to require comment, 

 though such is the efficiency of 

 the life-savers, who brave the 

 perils of any storm, that life is 



