The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-11-10
YAkuTAT WONDERS.
Startling Mirages Exhibiting Some Truly
Horrible Images.

Startling Mirages Exhibiting Some Truly
Horrible Images.
Along the coast region, southeast
from Yakutat Bay, between the beach
and the st. Elias Alps, lies most re-
markable tract, which is a veritable
wonderland and which is destined to
furnish large amount of material for
museums, as well as problems for nat
uralists to solve. This section of the
country is for most part low, sandy
fiat, generally bare next the coast, but
covered profusely near the foot of the
range OF mountains with a growth of
small timber and brush, interspersed
with lakes, swamps and glades. Grass
grows luxuriantly, and were it not for
the evidence of a general annual flood,
this would be an ideal stock range. At
this season of the year most all kinds
OF game abound except deer Some Of
the bears in this country are of i'm
mense size. Along the water courses
the sand and mud were literally COW
cred with bear signs; the track of one
monster, who seemed to be monarch of
all the country, measured twenty-five
inches from heel to toe
On some of these long, low flats are
found skeleton remains of some gigantic
animal, some of which are in a good
state of preservation. A joint bone
twcnty ilaohes IN diornotar au5 about
three feet in length was found standing
upright near a hole which had once
been its bed, it having been placed in
its present position but a short time
before by some other party. Leg bones,
sections of backbones and ribs and
other bones and pieces of bones were
found lying exposed, or nearly so,
while others only show pieces protrud-
lag from the sand, gravel and clay. A
rough measurement of one of the
largest ribs, that lay flat and almost
wholly on top the ground, showed it to
be about sixteen feet in length. Picture,
an image Of an animal whose skeleton
rib is of that length; clothe the skel-
eton with flesh, skin and perhaps a
growth Of shaggy hair; mount it upon
legs, and view the monster. 1t will
not be difficult matter to secure some
of these wonderful curiosities.
Over this waste Of sand, mud and
gravel are scattered stranded trees,
logs, stumps and snags.
Most wonderful mirages are seen
during the DAYS and twilights, and
mimic lakes and water courses fringedi
with vegetation mirrored upon the sur
face, while the grassy stumps,
trees, logs and roots, which have an
actual existence, are distorted and
magnified into the shapes of huge, I'M
calmly animals and reptiles of enor-
nous proportions. The fogs and mists
are driven across these wastes by the
winds, and as the objects referred to
loom up in the flying vapors, they ap-
pear like living creatures, and appear
to be actually moving rapidly across
the land at times, at other times flying
through the air and again lunging
through the sea at terrific rate of
speed, dashing the spray high in the :
air while huge breakers roll over them
and on toward the mountains, against
which they appear to be dashing,
twenty miles away. Monstrous serpents.
apparently several hundred feet long,
sometimes with riders on their backs,
men on horseback thirty feet high,
animals and birds of all kinds of hor-
rible shapes, seem to be securing past,
racing and chasing each other until
they are lost in the darkness of the fly
ing mists.
One scarcely knows which to wonder
at the most, or think which is the
strangest, the phenomena of these
mirages with thess horrible images, or
the remains of these gigantic animals.
-AlaS6G Mining Record.