Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-01-11
SEEING LONG DISTANCES.
How Far Away Has the Human Eye De-
tected Another Object ON Earth?

I =
tected Another Object ON Earth?
The recent claim of the United States
signal service to have transmitted hello
graph signals over distance of 1S3 miles,
and Of the United States coast survey and
geodetic survey to have beaten that many
years since between Mount Helna and
Mount Shasta, over 1872 miles, has started
mountain climbers to make all sorts of
guesses and assertions about the distances
they ought to see and the distances they
DO see. 1t would appear that one of the
enthusiastic climbers of Mount Hood, in
Oregon made the statement that from the
summit he saw the peak of Mount Shasta,
a16 miles to the southwark. OF course he
was doubted, but principally because the
curvature Of the earth would prevent the
interyisibility OF the peaks, and SO an ap-
peal was made to young officer OF the
United States engineering corps, who COM
puted the distance at which these peaks
would be intervisible Mount Hood is
given as II, 75S feet above the sea level
and Mount Shasta as IA, 44o, and the dis
tanco on the latest charts is 27Sl3 miles.
BY his computation the total visible dis
lance" was 277 miles, which gave lone
mile to spare" over his assumed distance
of 276 miles, upon which The Oregonian
and some of the New York papers have as
sumed the intervisibility of the peaks, and
that the mountain climber was right il
his declaration Of seeing Mount Shasta.
That is all very pretty, Professor David
son says, if the ocean interviewed between
the two peaks, when the line of intervisi-
bility would be tangent to the surface of
the sea at a point nearer to Mount Hood,
but unfortunately the surface between
these two peaks is the backbone of the
Cascade range of mountains, and the in
tervisibility is an absolute physical impos-
sibility We must turn to Alaska if we
expect to obtain the longest lines of in
tervisibility, because the great mountain
peaks like Elias and Logan of the st.
Elias range Immediately dominate curry
ing coast line. The greatest authenticated
distance at which these great master peaks
have been visible from sea was by Captain
H. t. Nichols of the United States navy
when commanding the United States gun
boat Pinta. He was close upon Middleton
island, off the approaches TO Prince Will
liam sound, in awell determined position,
when he had view of Mount Elias to the
east northeast and Mount Wrangell to
the northward. The former was distant
1877 statute miles and the latter 2l3 miles.
1t may have been possible that Mount
Elias was only part of the mass he saw,
and Mount Logan, 90 miles to the north
by east from Mount Elias and 10, 512 feet
elevation, was the summit of tho visible
mass. In this case the distance was 20i
miles.
1t may bs mentioned that the consensus
of opinion of men who have been through
Alaska and nave seen Mount Wrangell is
that the highest mountain mass is just
under G2 degrees latitude and between l47
and 14S degrees longitude, or 166 miles
west northwest from Wrangell. This
would put the unnamed Mount Wrangcll,
Mounts Elias, Fairweathcr, Cook, Cridon,
La Perouse, etc, of the Mount Elias range
in one limo extending through nearly 500
miles.-San Francisco Bulletin.