The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-05
ALASKA'S SILENT CITY.

Mount ST. Elias by several of the party
who accompanied Prince Luigi in his re-
cent expedition to the summit of the noun
tain. The phenomenon was well character
lied as "Alaskas silent CITY," The same
thing, or something so near like as to pass
for the same thing, was witnessed once
before by member of another Alaskan
exploring party who described it in similar
phrase. His point of view, however, was
more than one hundred miles distant from
the one where the phenomenon was last
Witnessed. In the first case it appeared
only to one person, while in the present
it was witnessed by six persons, one of
whom describes it as folows:
When we looked to the north we were
thunuerstruck to behold a magnificent city,
apparently rising on ridge, which is an
extension from the massive west side of
Mount st. Elias. 1t was in truth a silent
city. Every detail of street and building
was plainly visible, but not a sign of life
was TO be seen. L called the attention Of
my friends to the sight and found that
they saw everything exactly as | saw it.
Ii 1T was Imagination on my part there
were five imaginations that fell in the same
channel as l. This, however is hardly
possible. At the right hand side as they
faced us were what looked like two Chi
nese temples. Next to them, and occupy
building with massive columns and huge
dome. Everything about the building was
massive. 1t lowered above all the other
structures in the city, making them appear
dwarfed. Across the entire front at equal
distances one from another, We're those
great columns, extending from the ground
to the roof. 1t was impossible to distin-
guish either doors or windows. The dome
appeared above the roof, which had a
gradual slant. The dome was first rounded
out and then came to a point at it's ex-
tremity. At the left of the temple, or what
ever 1t was. was group of buildings nav
Ing the appearance OF business blocks
We're square, having rows of windows de-
noting about four stories. They had flat
roofs. Each of these buildings was, set
flush with the street, and they made har-
monious picture. with short, even spaces
between them. Next came what appeared
to be a church, with a tall, slender spire,
and at the extreme left think there were
three buildings that looked like factories.
Only portion of these buildings was Wis
ible, and it appeared as II the city eX-
tended in that direction much farther than
we could see. This completed the picture
that was placed before our eyes. 1t lasted
from 3:45 O'Clock in the morning until 42O
1t began to disappear at 4:l5 ana 1aded
away gradually, requiring only five min
utes to disappear entirely: From the time
fade it was prefectly steady and the image
perfect, as previously described.
The party who witnessed this strange
and beautiful phenomenon consisted of a
poet two hospital attendants, an interpret
err a sailor and a well-known citizen OF
Seattle One might think the description
was written by the poet and drawn partly
from his imagination, or by the sailor with
the sailors license, or by the interpreter
inspired by some fairy tale in an unknown
tongue. On the contrary, it was written
by the Seattle man, who made a contem-
poraneous entry regarding it in his note
book AS all the other members of the
party witnessed the phenomenon at the
same time and were practically agreed in
their description of it, it could not have
been an optical illusion or mere trick of
the imagination. So the question arises,
what was it or what is it? Is it the frozen
remains of some obsolete city of the glacial
period whose inhabitants have long since
passed away? Is it the ruins of thousands
of castles in the air whose owners in all
parts of the world have failed to complete
them and left them to be Incorporated in
this silent city? Is it the foreshadowing of
the future capital OF Alaska, rich in the
accumulated wealth of future Klondikes?
Is it a piece of natures's grand fantastic
work amid the glaciers, or, finally, was
it a mirage? The last might be possible if
there were any city in that part of the
world to furnish the substantial part of the
phenomenon. To get the effect of a mirage,
which is nothing more than shadow in
the air or water, there must be substance
to begin with. Images of ships, coasts and
parts of cities are often reflected and
| hxy
the water, and those of trees and animals
in the air on land but there must always
be the real object to begin with. There is
no real city of the kind described in Alaska,
nor in all the Arctic regions, so far as
known. 1t could not have been Dawson or
Skaguay because, besides being too far
away they could not possibly be idealized
into anything SO beautiful as that de-
scribed We are almost forced to the con-
clusion that it must have been city of
ice, built by nature out of the material at
hand and which the dim light of the early
morning hour and the imaginations of the
beholders invested with the attributes of
human architecture. The materials for an
ice city are there in great abundance. The
glaciers of Alaska are, with the exception
of those in Greenland the largest in the
Northern hemisphere, and they eliminate
on and near Mount st. Elias. One glacier
near it's base is estimated to be 1900 square
miles in area, and not less than 1900 feet
thick. In this immense quarry of natural
ice, without a suggestion of ammonia or
artificial processes about it, there is album
dant material for an ice city, and there is
no danger of exhausting the quarry. either.
In the vast solitudes and eternal leisure of
that high and silent region nature has roth
ing else to do but replenish her quarries
OF ice and fashion out OF them such cities
as that seen by these explorers-cities with
massive blocks and temples and churches
with columns, domes and minarets. This
must have been what the explorers saw.
Such city might do for a summer resi-
dence. but the difficulty of reaching it will
prevent it from ever becoming popular
resort Besides. at that altitude living
would be very high.
-4-o-S
The defalcation of Charles NJ. Charnly, of
Chicago an elder in the Presbyterian
Church, and custodian of several religious
trust funds. proves to have been q Pc