26 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
by a high bank of shingle, piled up and continued westward, so that the present outlet of the 
pond is half a mile further west than it was a few years ago ; the shingle having been 
continually swept westward, while the flux and reflux of the tide through the narrow channel 
keeps its outlet open. 
The ponds and small bays on the south side of Long Island, in the townships of Southamp¬ 
ton and Easthampton, frequently have their outlets closed by beaches, formed by the detrital 
matter swept coastwise by the tidal currents and the waves. The long sandy islands on the 
south coast of Long Island, which protect it from the heavy waves of the Atlantic, are doubt¬ 
less formed by the same cause. Long beach is a sand-spit extending from Ben’s point, near 
Oyster-pond point, westward, four and one-fourth miles, and has been formed by the detritus 
being swept coastwise and deposited in the eddy currents. This beach gives safety to Oyster- 
pond harbor, by serving as a natural breakwater. (Vide Map of Oyster-pond Point, PI. 32.) 
Two sand-spits were observed in Coldspring harbor, resulting from causes similar to those 
above detailed. 
The headlands and clifis on the north coast of Suffolk county are continually wearing 
away; and the materials of which they are composed, consisting principally of clay, sand, 
gravel and pebbles, are transported by tidal currents, and deposited in other places. 
Huntington harbor is of alluvial origin.* This harbor is formed by two necks of land; 
Loyd’s neck on the west and northwest, and Eaton’s neck on the east and northeast. Loyd’s 
neck, which was originally an island, has been connected with the main island by a low sand- 
beach, now overflowed at high water ; Eaton’s neck was formerly a cluster of four islands, 
which have in the same way been cormected with each other, and with the main island. A 
sand-spit one mile and a quarter in length, and from ten to twenty rods in width, extends out 
into the harbor from the southwest part of Eaton’s neck, and adds much to its safety ; as also 
a similar one from the southeast part of Loyd’s neck. The materials composing the sand- 
beaches and spits which I have mentioned, are precisely like those now thrown up by the 
action of the surf; they consist of pebbles, gravel and fine siliceous sand, interspersed with 
water-worn shells belonging to genera and species now living on the coast; and they are 
destitute of boulders, which distinguishes them from most of those low places formed by the 
removal of the surrounding materials. 
The beach connecting Eaton’s neck with the main island, is three and a half miles in length, 
and ten to thirty rods in width. Mr. Gardner, who keeps the light on Eaton’s neck, in¬ 
formed me, that some years since, a vessel, during a violent storm, having been driven upon 
this beach, and an excavation made to get her off, marsh mud was found beneath the 
sand near tide-water level, precisely like that in a small marsh on the opposite side of the 
beach, clearly indicating the manner of formation at that place. On the northwest part of 
Eaton’s neck, a sand-beach one-half or three-fourths of a mile in length, has been thrown 
up in front of a marsh containing several acres. It has formed rapidly since the remem- 
* Huntington harbor embraces within it three smaller ones, viz. Loyd’s harbor, Cow harbor, and one near the village in Hun¬ 
tington. 
