Over a hundred years ago, giant sand dunes threatened to overwhelm parts of Florence, Oregon.

The sand came from the Cascade Mountain Range.

Over millions of years, it tumbled down rivers and the wind blew it back onto the coast.

Roughly 50 miles of folding, rolling, snaking sand,

around four times the footprint of Manhattan.

Some dunes are taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

And that sand moved. It swallowed forests, buried roads and railways, engulfed houses, even entire villages.

When writer Frank Herbert visited the area in 1957, he was stunned by the awesome power of the sand.

Sand dunes pushed up by steady winds build up waves like ocean waves, every bit as devastating to property as a seismic wave.

But it wasn't just the sand that inspired Herbert. The people that lived near these dunes, they were trying to stop the sand from moving.

To fix the dunes in place. And to Herbert? It looked like they were winning.

The small Oregon coastal town of Florence is the scene of an unsung victory

in the fight that men have been waging since before the dawn of recorded history.

The fight is with moving sand. since before the dawn of recorded history.

The fight is with moving sand, with dunes.

For Herbert, an idea had taken root, one that would eventually give rise to a science fiction classic.

Dune. My planet Aracus is so beautiful when the sun is low.

Rolling over the sands, you can see spice in the air.

The outsiders ravage our lands in front of our eyes.

Dune is the our lands in front of our eyes.

Dune is the story of a desert planet, a world of sand and storms, colonization, and deadly political intrigue. He who can destroy a film and TV a number of times.

But the dunes that inspired dune, these days they are not so enduring.

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