Disappearance of the delta - 浮線

Mr ChoSan mentioned the disappearance of the old delta (the 浮線) which indeed used to be in the middle of the river. In this undated old photo of Danshui (most likely taken before the Sino-French war) looking into GuanDu, a trace of it can still be seen - to the right of the picture in the river. It later might have built up into a true delta, possibly a result of ships deliberately sunk at the mouth of the river to prevent the French Navy from entering that had greatly impeded the out flow.
張三先生注意到淡水河中的浮線(或沙埔)現時己經不見蹤影了.左方的老照片(很可能是中法戰爭前所攝)右手河中還可看見部份浮線.而且關渡口似乎有另一浮島.現在看來,淡水河中的浮島與時變化,並非常景.

In the 50s, many older boys swam up to it, usually on a dare. No one seems to remember what the girls did for fun.
50年代男孩們會被同伴們挑戰,游水到島上.女孩們玩些什麼遊戲就不得而知了.

There have been many different theories on how the delta disappeared. For example, dredging - which did go on but only for a very brief while. The most convincing one is that after the narrow GuanDu passage was blasted open in 1964, at the suggestion of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the water rushed downstream and washed the delta away. That might have been; however, the true reason is prior to that, some 8 to 10 sand and gravel companies set up shops in Bali along the shoreline and began to siphon the river water 24/7 - to recover the sandy sediments. The sand was sold for profit of course. And this continued for several years until the delta was totally gone. No one knew if this activity was authorized by whomever. Widening the GuanDu passage probably also has contributed to the wash out later, but it was not the main cause.
至於浮線為何消失,與 1964 年關渡拓寬倒是無甚關係,而是之前八里的 8-10 家砂石公司無日無夜的作業給抽光了.

The idea of resuscitating Danshui's shipping industry has been bandied about for decades. No dice so far - sedimentation is the perennial issue.
很可惜,這個長久的淤沙問題使淡水一直無法回復到上一世紀國際港的盛況.