Imagine a beach not made of sand but Glass! Seems
imaginary and impossible but everything
is possible on this Earth… and so is this. The Glass Beach a it is famously
called, is a beach in MacKerricher
State Park near the Fort Bragg in California. But unlike many other marvels on
the face of our planet that have been created out if various geological
processes and phenomenon, this one is due to the reckless dumping of garbage
over the centuries.
This began in the earlier phase of
the twentieth century when the residents of the fort Bragg began throwing their garbage onto the dump
yard which is now the Glass Beach. The garbage consisted of many electrical
appliances glass articles as well as transportation vehicles! More surprising
was the fact that the whole dumping ground was actually the property of Union
Lumber Company which the people very completely took for granted to serve for their waste disposal Over the
time dumps resembled mountains and heaps of trash which were impossible to
control with the growing and exploding so they were simply burnt down by fire.
In 1967 the place was finally sealed
by the authorities of California, the California State Water Resources Control
Board who did not know how to further reduce the ever increasing volumes of trash.
Various clean up programs were organized and undertaken in the area but to not
avail and hence the land was left at the mercy of nature for the rest few decades. Over time the waves from
the sea swept away all the junk, carrying along the pieces of anything and
everything the sea could manage to gobble up but left behind pieces of glass.
These pieces were broken down into yet smaller bits smoothed and rounded by the
pressure and friction of sea waves that hit these pieces. What was left behind
was the beautiful and spectacular glass Beach of the present times.
What is even more surprising is the
fact that there is not just one such beach but in fact three Glass Beaches i9n
Front Bragg, California. All the three of these beaches were broadly
formed by rampant dumping of glass
articles and household garbage over a sixty years period beginning fro early
twentieth century 1906 to the post half of the twentieth century, 1967. The two
of the beaches out of the three are located in Elm Street and Glass Beach Drive. They were subject to garbage dumping
from 1943 to 1949 after which the sea took over the herculean task of turning
these into eye catching destinations which stand out a marvel even a midst a
long story of destruction and wastage of the resources on these grounds.
These beaches are easily and freely
accessible to people who would either like to enjoy the pictures beauty of
shining and glistening glass pieces beneath their feet and also for those who
would like to take a tougher path of climbing down hillocks and cliffs to reach
these beaches.
Unlike the two beaches the Beach
number one which has faced the longest history of dumping on its grounds and
bears deepest scars of the abandoned glass on its face, has something more
special about it. This one can not be
accessed so easily as the cliffs that lead to it are strictly monitored for no
encroachment. So in order to get to this destination people use the waterways
which are safer and quicker.
This beach officially became the
property of people after a private property owner stressed in 1998 that the
Glass Beaches were of the people, for the people and by the people in essence!
Then began a half a decade years of mechanism to clean up the place in
collaboration with the California coastal Conservancy and California Integrated
Water Management Board in order to make it worth a place to be sold to the
state. It was purchased by the California Department of parks and Recreation
from where the fifteen hectare of the purchased Glass Beach property in October
2002 was amalgamates with the
MacKerricher State Park which remains the same to this date.
This Glass Beach has become a
popular tourist spot in California. People come to enjoy its uniqueness and
glitter of the colorful glass scattered everywhere and the smoothing blue of
the sea waters. But tourists are strictly prohibited from collecting the glass and carrying it with
them. A Glass Festival is also commemorate these wonderful triplet beaches.
Just as the nature created this the
same force of nature is also destroying this beach with the time. The action of
waves is slowly grinding down the glass to nothing and the beach is slow losing
its glass. The state authorities are making efforts to replenish the Beaches
before they completely vanish along with their beauty glitter and uniqueness. Similar
Glass Beaches have also sprung up in Benicia California and Hanapepe, Hawaii.
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