The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-26
THE "SHADOW OF THE DEVIL"
A Rare Phenomenon Visible From Sum
init of Mount Diablo.
FROM the San Francisco Chronicle.

From the San Francisco Chronicle.
Just about four times year the sun
rise visitor to Mount Diablo's summit
may witness a rare phenomenon, the
shadow Of the devil" talked of vaguely
for scores of years all along the Contra
Costa county side A long time ago the
Spaniards who dwelt here and there about
piablo's foot hills noticed the phenomenon
and gave it the name it still bears, invest
ing il with supersttious fancies and hold
ing ii to be a thing significant of good or
i'll. The sheepman or rancher whom sun
rise found near enough the peak on the
quarterly shadow days to see the strange
landscape freak would cross himself plous-
" and so home believing he had an omen.
Last Sunday, Nov. II, the first photograph
ever taken of the shadow was made from
the top of Diablo a few minutes after sun
rise. 1t is in way notable picture, ana
the taking of it was extremely difficult,
as the lights and shades are varied and
extremely hard to manage. The party
which went up to Diablo was composed OF
a quartet of cyclers, one of whom. J. j.
3. Argenta, is an enthusiastic member of
At 4 a. m. Sunday the party rose and
went to the summit, pushing their wheels
before them in the darkness over the
toughest sort of a mountain road. BY the
almanac the sun was scheduled 10 appear
that morning al 6:S2 o'clock but it was 1926
O'Clock before he appeared 10 the waiting
quartette. At 7:20 o'clock the shadow APP
peared and the picture was taken. Il is
no wonder that the Spaniards called II the
devils shadow. 1t has an appearance of
the neither regions and Is mysterious. 1T
only lasts for a few minutes and then is
swept out of the early morning scene as
breath from a looking-glaSs fades. If
the observer did not know just where to
look for it it might easily come and pass
for another three months ana the watcher
not be any the wiser
There is simple enough explanation for
the shadow, Diablo is fun 1000 feet above
about it, and when the sun rises behind it
a triangular shadow of the great conical
peak is thrown against Grizzly, which is
back of Berkeley, thirty miles away The
town west of DiablO, Walnut Creek on the
left and all the cluster Of tiny hills that
surround Diable like brilliants around q
stone OF the first water, are still i'm dark
seem almost black when the heavy shad-
ow is thrown on the scene slanungly clear
and sudden.
The lights that set off the shade are
peculiar in the extreme, and that is what
makes photography UP there such a deli
cate and difficult matter. On the right side
Of the mountain the light nearest TO the
was palest yellow shading gradually into
green, until it was lost in the green of the
hills on the left the line was reddish. and
the shadow itself was blue-black
No doubt Grizzly is overshadOwed every
morning by its pre-eminent neiehhor. 90
miles away, but the atmosphere is seldom
/ kindly enough to allow one to see it from
was thin haze, but it was not enough to
! blot the shadow. No one ever seems 10
! have seen the shadow from the i0terr,e-
! date lowlands, in darkness.