The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-09-17
MIRAGE SURPRISES.
PULLING PICTURES IN THE DESERT
COUNTRY OF ARIZONA.


Wonderful Illusions That Vanish
From Sight Like a Shooting Star
and Some Others That Linger Until
the Going Down of the SUN.
AS the mirage is so infrequent In the
populous part Of our country and as SO
little is said about it, it is probable that
the majority of Americans know 1t only
by name, though they may have read de-
scriptions of the mirage of the Sahara
desert or the Fata Morgana of Sicily and
southern Italy. Occasionally it may be
seen across Lake Ontario, and New YORK
state may look upon Canadian town
pictured upon the sky. This happens but
once in many years.
Rut the mirage Of the southwest be-
comes a friend, sort of travelling COM
panion. As the traveller passes through
Arizona on the train he sees the lakes
coming and going all the time and Won
ders il it is not a mistake to call 1t
desert. Occasionally he will be aston
ished to see wild animals come so near
the train, but when he sees some great
beasts. larger than the elephant, he be-
gins TO ask questions and is likely TO reel
skenticaI when told that it is all a fancy
and due to the mirage. Our party was
growing so used to phantoms that we
were confident we could not be mistaken
again, Nevertheless we We're.
We had left the Moqui reservation and
were travelling toward the Chitiquo river
when we beheld a city chiseled out OF
marble. with cathedrals and towers, with
nillars capped with Grecian gods and
Christian saints, with streets Of marble
and a river winding its way through the
CITY. We believed it a real city and
thought it was built of marble because it
was so plentiful here. 1t was city OF
splendor, but a child of the sun, which
gave life and beauty to the sand barren
desert, and, 10, when we look again the
magic city, with its wonderful towers and
pillars and river, has vanished ike
shooting star!
Along the Colorado river the mirage IS
frequent. Sometimes the objects are re-
yersed and appear to be upside down,
sometimes vertical-that is, standing one
above the other. The scientists say that
| these mirages are caused by the heating
| of the sand the atmosphere being OF
much higher temperature near the sur
face, where it expands rapidly, but leaves
the greater volume of air above dense;
that the sun striking the air obliquely
forms an angle of light because it passes
uniformly through the dense air, but
when reaching the diffused air it pierces
more rapidly and inclines straight to-
ward the earth instead of obliquely, with
a tendency to turn back toward the
denser atmosphere. This angle of light
| causes q reflection. The objects on the
| earth are Swallowed in the lower strata
and reflected from that upon the higher.
| And vet this was not a satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION to US, for the mirage astonish-
ed and amused us after the sun had gone.
| One evening we were sitting on the
| steps of q ranch cabin when, looking to-
ward the south, we saw a magnificent
monastery. We were surprised that we
had not seen it before. 1t was then
growing dark, and we could see it until
| total darkness closed. In the morning it
was gone. The next morning we were
aroused before daylight in order that we
might see the train at The Needles, about
80 miles south. We could see the cars
plainly, as we'll as the men. The whole
scene seemed but few hundred yards
| L
served almost any morning in the year.
The next surprise the mirage gave us
was near the Pagago Indian reservation.
One morning we were presented the pic
! ture of a lively city. The houses and the
markets were plain, and the inhabitants,
wearing their serapes and sombreros.
Many were going to church, the water
carriers were hurrying about, men on
| na6 a n
there was no installing the fact that 1t
was a real city. We learned afterward
that it was the town of Magdalena, Mex
leo, a hundred miles or more south.
But the most wonderful of all the
scenes is that of the Jim Jam valley, in
the San Bernardino mountains, over the
Arizona line in southern California. From
Yuma to the mountains we passed many
scenes, the most interesting being the
mud volcanoes" The mud is thrown
up from many openings, some springs
spouting several feet in height. There is
a continual making and destruction OF
mud pies. These so called volcanoes are
sometimes below sea level and generally
quite cold, though few are boiling hot
Both are accompanied by rumbllng
noise. One sees the skeletons of many
birds that in their search of water have
persisted by the fumes of the volcanoes.
We saw the remains of mocking birds,
golden eagles and the Mexican snowbird
When we entered the Jim Jam valley
through Dead Mans pass, the sun was
shining brilliantly. We had not gone far
when we witnessed strange things. The
walls of the cliffs are frightfully scared
and the peaks twisted into tortured
forms. Not a living creature of any
kind inhabits the valley, which is only e
miles or so in length and probably half as
wide So far as we could tell, when in
our right senses, not a plant or living
thing of any nature inhabited this valley
Yet we saw many lakes and rivers and
foliage and birds and water fowl which
vanished as we proceeded and formed
again beyond. We saw strange beasts
coming toward US in all directions, which
made us restless and the women of our
party almost hysterical.
Beyond we saw Indians IN their canoes
and thought to reach them, but they, too
vanished. In their stead we saw q
mountain rise in lake of silver. Great
birds of different hues seemed to hover
over the lakes; beautiful trees, with fan
tastic forms, hung over the water. The
mountain seemed to move, and as II
moved its summit was crowned by q
great ball of blue fire, which was sur
rounded by a halo of light. We were
astonished to see the mountain nearing
us. OF course we knew it was an illu.
sion, but when the mountain top appeared
to break off and to be falling upon us oul
nerves were quite unstrung. The women
were almost Frustrated. We knew that
storm was brewing, so we hastened
back. The storm broke before we reach
ed Dead Mans pass, the lightning fash
ing on all sides of us, forming In crosses
stars, halos and other fantastic forms
The thunder crashed from wall to wal
and seemed to tear the mountains and
the very atmosphere.
Upon leaving the valley a feeling OF
relief came to US. and we all agreed that
II 1t had not been named we certainly
would call it the "Jim Jam valley."-De
troit Free Press.