The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-07-07
CITY OF THE MIRAGE
STRANGE, TRADITION OF A TOWN
NEAR THE NORTH POLE.

Several White Men Claim to Have Seen
tho Recommendation Cherish tho
Lcgcnd--Mr. Whites Circumstant 40
count Backed Up By photographs.
Some one revives every fow years the
legend of tho Silent City, seen MS "a
mirage over the Muir glacier, i'll Gla-
oier bay, Alaska. 100 miles above Jul
neau. What processes to be photo
engraving of the city, with affidavit at
tached, was published AID sold some
years ago, and 1T least half dozen
white men profess to have seem the city,
while the natives of the Alaskan coast
cherished the tradition Of its existence.
The, mirage is usually visible at about
this time of the year. Ono man declares
that he saw it on July 5, 1889, and two
others, it is declared, have made af,ida-
Wit that they saw it three days before
Shat date John M. White, Virginian
who after 10 or Is years spent in va
rlous parts of the west has settled down
in Philadelphia solemnly declares that
he saw 1t on june 81 some years ago
mir. Whites account of the phcuem-
enon is circumstaptial in tho highest
degree, and he joins to il theory as TO
what the city il and where il lies. He
declares that he studied the mirage for
nine hours through powerful glass ms
1t was spread above the glacier on the
side4of Mount Fairwcathor. Ho affirms
that the city is walled; that it's houses
are battlemeated aud the chimncys sur
mounted by chimney pots; that within
the walls there is Il tall monument sur
mounted by the sculptured figure of an
Indian in full headdress and feathers.
His glass revealed to him some of the
inhabitants, men in knee breeches and
Jackets. The only beast visible was
donkeylille creature, with body as
large rs that of horse.
The mirage appeared at first about
1880 n. m. as mist, and ont of this
rose the towers and battlements Of the
city as did those of ancient Troy. By
noon the city was rs clearly outlined rs
New York is from tho Jersey heights.
Mr.. White rejects tho various gucsscs
that the phantom city is Antwerp, Mont
real or Salt Lake City It's architecture
is unlike that of any other city he has
seen. That it is real city he is certain
from the fact that he has seen three pho
tographs taken of the mirage. one OF
which shows y tower rising amid the
houses and a later one the same tower
finished. He believes that it is a mirage
OF city at the north pole on the edge
OF the traditional open polar sea. He
believes that when the sun is Mt it's
highest northern point, rs it is on June
Il, tho mirage of the arctic metropolis
is reflected to the point where it ap-
pears over the Muir glacier. The legend
OF the Chilcats of Alaska supports this
theory. They say that many centuries
ago, whom Alaska was warm and
denseiy peopled country, there came
from the north through the ice barrier
savage people fully armed who laid
waste the region,and put It's inhabitants
to the sword. These savage warriors
he believes to have been the ancestors
OF the American Indians, and he is CON
WINGED that in coming through the ice
barrier they left behind q warm region
about the pole, where the remnant of
their people continued to develop snd
at length built the metropolis seen On
st. Johns day in mirage above tho
Muir glacier.
Inc pictures purporting to have been
MADE from Photographic negatives of
the mirage represent an ordinary mod
ern city without walls or hattlements
but with spacious, comfortable looking
houses, surmounted with broad chin
neys and interspersed with trees. In
fact, they look like photographs of wash
drawings made by an artist that was
not too careful to follow the details of
tho legend. New York Sun.