Photo by H. C. Mann 



A GpIMPSP OP TPIP, SAND BEACH IN WINTER 



of this knowledge of defense, it is plain 

 to be seen that a good quarter of a mile 

 of beach has been added by the defender 

 since the old light was erected. 



The War Department, having realized 

 the great value of Cape Henry's position 

 from strategic reasons, is preparing plans 

 for fortifications which will extend for 

 several miles along the beach at this 

 point. So it is that a human ally has 

 been enlisted on the side of the land 

 army to fight with it side by side, and 

 every resource of man will be brought 

 into play in order to outwit the salt le- 

 gions of the deep, who hereafter can 

 only hurl themselves first upon the sand- 

 reef outposts and then fruitlessly expend 

 their remaining strength upon the stone 

 ripraps of the human ally. 



ATTACKING THE ISLANDS OP CHESAPEAKE 

 BAY 



Even inland waters take their toll from 

 the lands which border them and the 

 islands which are surrounded by them. 

 In the Chesapeake Bay one finds many 



instances of the constant attack and siege 

 by the water enemy, and how these pro- 

 cesses go on all the time may be strik- 

 ingly shown by many of the old records. 

 When the United States survey of the 

 Chesapeake.JBay was made in 1848, the 

 area now known as James Island was a 

 peninsula, a narrow isthmus connecting 

 the island with the mainland. In only 

 50 years this entire isthmus has been cut 

 away, and a distance of a quarter of a 

 mile now separates the island from the 

 mainland. At the time of the 1900 sur- 

 vey of the Chesapeake waters the west 

 shore of James Island had receded 500 

 yards beyond the head of the inlet of 

 1848. The inlet had been filled in and 

 the sand-bar separating it from the bay 

 had shifted eastward. In area the island 

 had decreased from 975 acres in 1848 to 

 555 acres in 1901. During the succeed- 

 ing nine years it was cut down to 490 

 acres. So one can see that in 62 years 

 485 acres, or nearly half of the island, 

 disappeared. 



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