Vo 1. XXVII
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' ''' F E B R U ARY 2, 19 2 4
.Entered 88 8econd class matter at the post office at RICHMOND, VA. Subscription, $2.00 per year.
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Number 7 J
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MUCH stress is laid on
the climate of the
Sandhills country until
many "people assume that climate
is the chief natural advantage
of this section when selecting a
location for a home. Possibly
climate is the first inducement,
but unless all of the causes of
climate are considered one other
agency must be given a close
second to climate and that is the
sandy surface of the groupd.
Thirty miles north of Pinehurst
the climate, as far as the nor
mal average temperature is reg
istered, is not much different
from that of Pinehurst. Yet
the actual climatic manifesta
tions as far as they affect per
sonal physical comfort, are de
cidedly different from those
experienced at Pinehurst. This
is in a measure at least the re
sult of the character of the soil
and of the earth far below the
surface in the Sandhills area.
The rocky foundation of
North Carolina slopes from the
mountain summit in the west end of the state to the edge of deep
water some miles out beyond the point where land and waiter meet
at the coast. From the mountains to the junction of the Piedmont
and the Coastal plain the slope to the eastward is rapid. From
the junction to the sea it is much less of a drop. It looks as
though at some remote day in the past the slow moving wash from
the mountains had filled in a broad plain reaching down to the sea
and out miles into the water, and that broad plain is a sediment
of clay and sand, with sand largely in evidence on the surface in
the counties from Pinehurst' to the coast.
In the vicinity of Pinehurst and Southern Pines the blanket of
sand is some 200 feet thick. A little farther north it^is thinner,
and presently the underlying rocks crop out. The sand and clay
arising from the weathering of those rocks has washed down with
the movement of the material towards the sea. Much of what
was at one time rocks in the sandy section has weathered and made
clay and sand to add to the sand-clay covering. As clay is more
soluble than sand it is carried more readily from the surface, leav
ing the sand behind. So we find that most of the surface of the
Sandhill area is sandy, although clay is found” not far below the
surface in nearly every neighborhood. Neither sand nor clay are
laid down in well defined stratification as most of the rocks of
Mrs. Marjorie Graham, of New York, mounted on Chichester, .one of her
favorite hunters. Mrs. Graham is spending the winter at the Carolina
at Pinehurst and takes an active part in all equestrian events.
' recent geological periods are. V i
Rather the sand and clay have
been carried in moderate ■
amounts to where they are f
found if they happen to be de- I
posited material, or where they f
fell when broken from the rocks f •
of their origin if they are resi- *
dual material. So the relations 1
of sand and clay to each other ;
as ground making materials are ?
largely haphazard. But the sand J
is so abundant on the surface as *
to give the coastal plain the ap- fc .
pearance of a vast bed of sand,, f
and it is that mass of surface %
sand that gives to the region. \
known as the Sandhills one of 4
its most valuable characteristics. ~
The sandy surface and the %
beds of sand beneath the surface .
have much to do with the water' 4
supply of the Pinehurst vicinity,
and better water is hard to find
any place on earth, or a mote t
persistent supply* summer and i
winter. While the rocky coun
try a few miles north of Pine
hurst is faced with severe water |
shortage at times in the summer, Pinehurst has seen the rainfall /•
absorbed by the porous sand to be given out in regular Supply all
the year, instead of falling on rocks fo run off in torrents and leave -J
the ground empty of water supply for the periods between rains. S
And there begins another powerful influence. In the sandy coun- .T
try imme'diately after the rain has fallen it is possible to be out 7
of dtfors, for the sand has taken up the rain* the surface is dry,
the air is free from the humidity rising from the fogs and satura
tion of moisture. That is why at Pinehurst a man may play golf
in a shower if he has a rubber coat, and the ground will not be %
out of condition for his play. The sand under the Bermuda grass 'r'\ '
takes up the water as it falls, and mud is practically an unknown ■
factor. So in building roads, unless too much clay is put on the
road it is always a dry road. That is why the Pinehurst roads
are in good shape summer 01* winter. The sand is the insatiate
collector of moisture, gathering it as fast as it comes, and storing V
it for the day when it is needed. ^
That gives a dry, stimulating atmosphere, summer and winter, J
and the Sandhills are never oppressive in summer because humidity .
is almost an unknown word in this vicinity. In winter the cold i ?
nights that are felt are not so uncomfortable as if the soil had a
(Continued on page 13)
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