ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 21 
As stated, this shifting of the sand often completely buries the veg- 
etation of considerable areas. This is indicated by the layers of dark 
peat usually less than an inch in thickness that may be seen in vert- 
ical sections of the dunes such as are often exposed when the wind 
opens a new gulch. In 1913, two of the Life Saving Stations, no. 2 
and no. 4, were seriously threatened with being buried by the shift- 
ing sand. Both were situated near and in the lee of the North Ridge, 
the high and nearly continuous line of grass-covered dunes that skirts 
the crest of the North Beach. In each case the wind had made a break 
and opened a gulch in the North Ridge opposite the stations. Every 
north wind enlarged the two gulches and piled the sand, tons of it, 
around the two stations. The necessity cf moving these stations was 
seriously being considered. 
The old main station-house was again moved, two miles farther 
east. \Yhen the sea later undermined the new foundation, it took 
the old house too. 
A chart of Sable Island by Capt. Joseph Darby was published in 
1824 and revised in 1829. It is on the scale of 3 miles to the inch. 
The island is shown as 25 ]/^ miles long, and the South Beach is 
shown with an almost continuous line of dunes. Wallace Lake ap- 
pears 15 miles in length, and with the dunes extending 2 miles beyond 
its western end. 
Capt. Darby reports in Blunt's Coast Pilot of 1832, "I have known 
this island for 28 years, during which time the west end has decreased 
in length 7 miles, although the outer breakers of the N. W. bar have 
the same l)earings from the west end of the Island as they formerly 
had, demonstrating that the whole bank and bar are travelling east- 
ward." 
Mr. Miller, in 1833, selected a site for a lighthouse, but in 1837, on 
revisiting it, he found that it had undergone a complete change and 
he was forced to recommend a temporary site and a lighthouse such 
as could be easily removed. 
A severe gale in 1842, completely demolished an old landmark, a 
pyramidal hill near the west-end station said to be 100 feet in height. 
Under this were found relics left by Maj. Elliott and men of the 43d 
Regiment, wrecked here in 17G1. 
The Hon. Joseph Howe visited the island as Commissioner in 1851. 
In his report is the startling statement that during 30 years, 11 miles 
by actual measurement of the western end luul been washed away. 
