The big dredge cutting its way thru the North Carolina coast at New Inlet broke thru into the ocean on its final lap at noon Tuesday with a rush, the pent up waters of Pamlico Sound lent their assistance, and in a few hours the tide had swept away the land, making the inlet 400 feet wide at the mouth.
The epoch marks the completion of a big state job begun in April to reopen an inlet that was once probably the biggest feeder of shad and herring in the North Carolina sounds. According to advice received from J.A. Nelson, Fisheries Commissioner, and Theo. S. Meekins, Assistant Commissioner at Manteo, yesterday, the job is as complete as could be hoped for, and is improving with each egg(?) tide. The approximate cost of the inlet is $120,000.
When the final dredging was done on Tuesday, the mouth of the inlet was 200 feet wide with four feet of water on the ocean bar at low water. By Thursday night, the tides had widened the inlet to 100 feet and deepened it to seven feet of water on the bar, carrying six feet on into Pamlico Sound. The indications are that the inlet will be widened and deepened by the ties all the time, and the officials believe it will be entirely successful.
The inlet is cut some six miles north of Rodanthe and 10 miles below Oregon Inlet. The width of the cut made by the dredge was 225 feet. The beach at this point is 1,500 feet wide, and the inlet is approached by a channel 10,000 feet long and six feet deep, leading from Pamlico Sound. On the north of the ocean side of the inlet, a jetty 500 feet long has been constructed to protect the mouth. The jetty is made of piling driven deep in the sand with two concrete barges sunk at the outer end.
The dredging was done by the Calkins Dredging Company of Norfolk and plans were made by Brent S. Drane, now State Geologist. The diking and jetty was built by forces working under the direction of Mr. Meekins, the Assistant Commissioner.
From the front page of the Elizabeth City Independent, Friday, October 10, 1924
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83025812/1924-10-10/ed-1/seq-1/#words=OCTOBER+10%2C+1924
No comments:
Post a Comment