Evening star., 1901-04-18
MYSTERY OF THE ARCTIC
SCIENTISTS PUZZLED OVER MIRAGE
CITY OF ALASKA.
SpIendOr of the Spectacle Has Awed
Every BehOIder-Seen Only in the
Evening or Early Morning.
From the New York Tribune.


The announcement that party of scien-
tifc men will leave Vancouver for Alaska
next June to study the so-called silent
City, mirage directs attention to phe-
nomenon which has been the subject of
much discussion during the last ten or
twelve years. AS long ago 1887 mining
prospector who had explored southern Alas
ka extensively created a sensation in Ju-
neau and gave newspaper correspondents a
ffrst-class topic by exhibiting photograph
which he pretended to have taken OF a
mirage. This prospector, one Willoughby,
was particularly familiar with the region
about Glacier bay and is said to have pilot
ed Prof. Muirs vessel to the glacier which
now bears the latters name. The story
which Willoughby told in Juneau was sub
stantially this:
Several years before, while he was near
Glacier bay, the Indians told him of the
occasional appearance of what looked like
city suspended in air. Finally he Witness
ed the strange spectacle himself. There
seemed to be number of huge buildings,
all of beautiful and imposing architecture,
whose spires and buttresses strongly sug-
gested the cathedrals of the old world. Lest
his story should be discredited, ne made
several successive attempts to photograph
the picture, which the Indians called the
Silent City Whatever doubt may attach
to the genuineneSs of the picture, the rest
Of Willoughbys statement may be accept
ed without hesitation, because there is
plenty of cOrroborative evidence
A Magic Scene.
Independent testimony of great value is
that offered by DIR. Filippo De Filippi, who
accompanied the Duke Of the Abruzzi to
Alaska in 1897 and subsequently wrote an
account of the Italian expeditions to Mount
st. Elias. The duke and his companions
had reached the summit and had descend
ed part of the way when night overlook
them. They encamped on the slope With
returning day they pushed on over the
Malaspina toward Yakutat bay, where lay
their ship. The weather was fine but
there was a breeze. The air was not calm,
and this fact may partially explain the i'm
perfectfons and unsteadiness of the mirage
DR.. Filippi says:
'The southern ridges of Mount st. Elias
stood out clearly, merging in the long chain
or Chalk hills, which, as 1t approached the
Malaspina glacier. assumed series of
strange shapes which we were no longer
able to recognize. Their outlines under
went changes before our very eyes, assum-
Ing the forms of spires, belfries minarets
and architectural outlines Of fantastic ca
thedrals, all of which slowly appeared and
disappeared, to be succeeded by buildings
OF lesser height, severely rectilinear. This
proved to be the mirage known as the 81
lent City, an optical illusion to which this
wide Ice surface is prone in common with
the burning sands of the desert The mar
velouS spectacle continued throughout the
afternoon.
Seen by Many Travellers.
It should be added that this glacier ii
fully twenty-five miles in width, but as It
is something like $50 or 200 miles west Of
the Muir glacier, where Willoughby was
when he saw the mirage, it Is open to uues-
tion whether the scene was precisely the
same. WiIoughby declared, however, that
the suspended city lay off to the westward
of him, toward Mount Fairweather which
stands between Glacier bay and Mount ST
Elias. it Is to the vicinity of FairWeather
that next summers expedition is to go
Other testimony regarding phantom cities
seen at twilight and not in the middle OF
the day Is furnished by Professor Russell
the well-known authority on American VOL
canoes. 1t was Professor Russell, by the
way, who effectually disposed Of the theory
that Mount st. Elias Is volcano. The
mirage witnessed by him was at the head
OF Yakutat bay, pr at point between
Mount St. Elias and Mount Fairweather
Spectacles of the same kind have been
seen on the coast of Greenland, too,
Scoresby, writing thirty-Gdd years ago. re-
marked: Hummocks OF Ice assumed the
form of castles. obelisks and spires and
the land presented extraordinary features
tremely irregular and appeared to be SO
full of pinnacles that it resembled a forest
OF naked trees. In others It had tho char
acter OF an extensive city, crowded with
churches, castles and public e6ifices." Cen
A. w. Greedy in his american Weather"
makes passing reference to the phenome-
NON. He does not mention having seen a