Nevada County picayune., 1890-06-04
THE MIRAGE OR FATA NOR.
 CANA OF THE PLAINS.
By F.. E. WHITE, Late l.. $. Indian
 Inspector.

lata MOrpana Oi tne ueStft.
 Phenomenal and intangible as the rainbow itself, the mirage, or fata Morgana of the desert. is even more beautiful. Though perhaps of less brilliant hucs and delicate tints, it is d thousand times more eccentric and varied in form. It is ever-changlng. always weird, and oftcE wonderfully magnificent.
 However familiar with the illusion no traveller ever ceases to be attracted by it. Even those most accustomed to the mysteries of the plains ire quently halt on the dusty trail to gaze in wonder and admiration upon the mirage, or fata Morgana, in some new and beautiful, or strangely fam tastic, form.
 The editor of the Rock Springs, Wyoming, Independent, himself an old plainsman, gives the following description of q mirage which he saw some time ago near old Fort Laramie:
 We witnessed the most perfect mirage we ever saw on the Laramie plains Tuesday evening. It was about an hour before sunset, and looking out of q ear window we saw about mile away a beautiful lake. It was in slight depression among the hills. and seemed to be about two miles long by mile wide. Never having noticed lake in that place on the road, we were considerably astonished, and asked the conductor for an explanation. He was equally astonished, as were passengers familiar with the road. As the train advanced the lake appeared to en- large and rise, but in spite of this it was difficult to believe the appear ance was simply that optical delusion known as mirage, and what appeared to be lake was grassy, level plain. The apparent lake was as smooth and bright as mirror, cX- cept at one edge, where it appeared to be ruilied by the wind. The strange sight was viewed with won der by hundreds of passengers until it was out of sight.
 have seen mirage in as perfect and beautiful form, I think, as that described by the Wyoming editor. In my travels on the plains l have several times seen the fata Morgana. which is always more fantastic, if not more beautiful, than simple mirage.
 was travcllng across No Mans Land, near Trinidad, Colorado, one day three or four years ago. About 10 o'clock in the forenoon we came in sight of what took to be grove of timber on the high plain straight ahead. My companion said he had been over the trail once or twice be- fore, but had no recollection of any timher at that place, and that it was impossible that any could he there. As we drove on, and the winding courae of the trail changed our point of view, the mysterious grove of tim Der was transformed into range of low, but rugged, mountains. Then as we travelled on along the curved summit of the "divide," around the head of canyon, the mountains, as if hy magic, assumed the form of city. The mountains faded away, and the city appeared as if emerging from mist. There were many storied houses, with their balconies, gables and spires. There were castles with meats, port-holcs, tur- rets, parapets and drawbridges-all standing out hold, clear-cut, and yet mysteriously intangible, against the horizon. As we drew still nearer, the houses melted away, and herd of colossal cattle took form in their stead, These cattle appeared to be a hundred feet high, and were stand inc knee deep in just such lake as the Wyoming editor describes. Half a mile nearer the lake began to van i.h. and in a few minutes it had dls- appeared entirely. But we were S'ill further amazed to behold, in the spot where the lake had rested, a small herd of real cattle, lazily cropping the rich, grey-grccn buffalo grass in the midst of high, treclesS plain many miles in extent,
 During the past summer l wlt- messed this same illusion in differ cnt form, in the Western part Of the Indian Territory was travellng over a trail that l had travelled seV- eral times before. This trail leads through one of the largest cattle ranches in the West. The owners of
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