The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1895-08-17
ALAsKA,s peAN~ow U

Someone revives eveiv yfars
the legend OF the Silent CITY, seem
as a mirage over the Muir Glacier,
in Glacier Bay, Alaska, 150 miles
above Juneau. What Processes to be
a photo-engrsving OF the city with
affidavit attached was published and
sold some years ago, and at least
half dozen white mon profess to
have seen the city, while the natives
of the Alaskan coasts cherish the
tradition OF it's existence. The mir
age is usually visible at about this
time of year. One man declares that
he saw it on July 5, 1889, aud two
others, it is declared, have made affi-
davit that they saw it three days be-
fore that date. John M. White, a
Virginian, who after ten or fifteen
years spent in various parts OF the
West had settled down in Philadel-
phia, solemnly declares that he saw
it on June Fl some years ago. "a
Mr.. Whites account OF the phe-
nomenon is circumstantial in the
highest degree, and he joins to it q
theory Of what the city is and where
it lies. He declares that he studied
the mirage for nine hours through a
powerful glass and it was spread
above the glacier on the side of Mt.
Fair Weather. He affirms that the
city is walled. that its houses ara
battlemented, and the chimneys
surmounted by chimney pots; that
within the walls there is a tall
monument surrounded by the sculp-
tured figure of an Indian in full
headdress and feathers. His glass
revealed to him some of the inhabi-
tants, men in knee breeches and
jackets The only a5east visible was
donkey-like creature, with a body
as large as that of horse.
The mirage appeared at first about
11:30 a. m. as mist, and out OF this
rose the towers and battlementB OF
the city as did those of ancient
Troy. By noon the city was as
clearly outlined as New York is from
the Jersey Heights.
Mr.. White rejects the various
guesses that the phantom city is
Antwerp, Montreal, or Salt Lake
City. Its architecture is unlike that
of any other city he has seen. That
it is a real city he is certain, from
the fact that he has seen three
photographs taken of the mirage,
one OF which shows tower rising
amid the houses, and later one the
same tower finished He believes
that it is mirage OF w AT the
North Pole on the edge OF the tradi-
tional open Polar sea He believes
that when the sun is al is highest
northern point2pat it is ON June q,
the mirage Of the Arctic metrhp, liz
is reflected to the point where it
appears over tae Muir Glacier. The
legend of thet Chilcats OF Alaska
supports this theory. They say
that many century ago, when Alaska
was warm and densely peopled
country, there came from the north,
through the ice barrier, a sav.ge
people, fully armed, who laid waste
the region and put it's inhabitants
to the sword. These savage war
riors, he believes, to have been the
ancestors of the American indians.
and he is convinced that in coming
through the ice barrier they left
behind warm region about the
pole, where the remnant OF their
people continued to develop and at
length built the metropolis seen ON
st. Johns day in mirage above the
Muir Glacier.
The picture purporting to have
been made from Photographic mega
tives of the mirage represent an
ordinary modern city without walls
or battlements, but with spacious,
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES houses, sur.
mounted with broad chimn~ va 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 the legend