March 26, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
497 
A New Inlet in the South Bay. 
It is my privilege to place before the readers 
of Forest and Stream the first photographs 
of the new inlet that has broken through the 
beach from the Great South Bay into the Atlan¬ 
tic Ocean. It is situated some four miles east 
of Fire Island Inlet, about south of the town of 
the north by a stretch of low-lying meadows 
known as Cedar Island Marshes, and is just at 
the junction of three arms of the bay which act 
as feeders. One runs east close up under the 
beach beyond Oak Island; another, known as 
Fox Creek, runs through the Cedar Island 
marshes from southwest to northeast into the 
main bay; the third is called the Grouts and is 
of this is to impede the flow of water, forcing 
it around a corner as it were, for to get out of 
the bay the water must flow almost northwest 
until close up under the beach and then turn 
to get out to sea. A very slight diminution in 
the quantity of water flowing through this inlet 
would cause the bar to make more rapidly to¬ 
ward the Oak Island beach and close up entirely, 
LOOKING WEST ACROSS THE NEW INLET AND ALONG THE OUTER BEACH. 
Lindenhurst, midway between Babylon and 
Amityville, Long Island. It is about two and 
three-quarter miles west of the Oak Island Life 
Saving Station and almost as far to the east 
of the Hemlock Station. 
During the last year, when there were high 
tides and big gales, the sea washed through the 
low part of the beach where the inlet now is, 
but failed to cut a permanent channel, and it 
was only in the latter part of January that a 
series of gales forced the water through in such 
volume as to open a permanent outlet to the sea. 
At first it was only a few feet wide, but it has 
steadily grown wider until on the 10th of March, 
when the accompanying pictures were taken, it 
was nearly 200 yards across. At that time there 
was^such a sea running through the inlet that 
it was impossible to cross it in my skiff, and 
therefore I was unable to measure the depth, 
but I estimated it at ten to fourteen feet. 
The inlet opens into a small bay bounded on 
really an arm of the bay, its general direction 
being southeast and northwest. The permanence 
and growth of any inlet are dependent upon the 
volume of water which passes through at each 
tide, and the fact that this one has opened where 
the three feeders join seems to argue that it 
has come to stay. 
Before the opening of the new inlet the flow 
of the tide in Fox Creek was scarcely percepti- 
A SEAWARD VIEW THROUGH THE NEW INLET. 
ble, but on the morning of March 10 it was all 
my skiff could do to stem it, running free before 
a good two reef breeze. 
When the Fire Island lighthouse was built one 
could stand on the parapet and cast a squid into 
the inlet, but it has steadily moved to the west¬ 
ward until now it is nearly six miles from the 
lighthouse. At the same time the channel which 
once ran north and south has steadily changed 
its direction until now it runs west by north and 
east by south, and each year it is creeping up 
closer under the Oak Island beach. The effect 
and hence the importance of the new waterway, 
its size and permanence. 
The economic effects of such a change will be 
seriously felt in the eastern portion of the bay, 
and it is probable that the seat of the oyster in¬ 
dustry will be at Babylon instead of at Patch- 
ogue. The famous Fire Island blue-fishing 
grounds will be transferred to some point neat 
Cedar Island, and what we call the West Bay 
Mi - - i 
will be the haunt of the ducks and other wild¬ 
fowl. The future of Cedar Island Inlet will 
be carefully watched by every dweller upon 
the shores of the Great South Bay. Those who 
dwell in the east will pray that it close up before 
the Fire Island Inlet does, and those who dwell 
in the west will pray that it grow and wax great. 
Edwin Main Post. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
