Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
October 18, 1889
The Monitor
Woodstown, Salem County, New Jersey
What is this article about?
Passengers on a train near Laramie Plains, Wyoming, witness a vivid mirage resembling a two-mile-long lake in a grassy plain, astonishing observers including the conductor before it fades from view.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
A Mirage on the Plains.
We witnessed the most perfect mirage we ever saw on the Laramie plains Tuesday evening. It was about an hour before sunset, and looking out of a car window we saw about a mile away a beautiful lake. It was in a slight depression among the hills, and seemed to be about two miles long by a mile wide. Never having noticed a lake at that place on the road, we were considerably astonished, and asked the conductor for an explanation. He was equally astonished, as were passengers familiar with the road. As the train advanced the lake appeared to enlarge and rise, but in spite of this it was difficult to believe the appearance was simply that optical delusion known as mirage, and that what appeared to be a lake was a grassy, level plain. The apparent lake was as smooth and bright as a mirror, except at one edge, where it appeared to be ruffled by the wind. The strange sight was viewed with wonder by hundreds of passengers until it was out of sight.
-Rock Springs (Wyo. T.) Independent.
We witnessed the most perfect mirage we ever saw on the Laramie plains Tuesday evening. It was about an hour before sunset, and looking out of a car window we saw about a mile away a beautiful lake. It was in a slight depression among the hills, and seemed to be about two miles long by a mile wide. Never having noticed a lake at that place on the road, we were considerably astonished, and asked the conductor for an explanation. He was equally astonished, as were passengers familiar with the road. As the train advanced the lake appeared to enlarge and rise, but in spite of this it was difficult to believe the appearance was simply that optical delusion known as mirage, and that what appeared to be a lake was a grassy, level plain. The apparent lake was as smooth and bright as a mirror, except at one edge, where it appeared to be ruffled by the wind. The strange sight was viewed with wonder by hundreds of passengers until it was out of sight.
-Rock Springs (Wyo. T.) Independent.
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
Extraordinary Event
What themes does it cover?
Nature
What keywords are associated?
Mirage
Laramie Plains
Optical Illusion
Train Passengers
Wyoming
Where did it happen?
Laramie Plains
Story Details
Location
Laramie Plains
Event Date
Tuesday Evening
Story Details
Witnesses on a train observe a perfect mirage of a lake about a mile away in a depression among hills, appearing two miles long by one wide, smooth as a mirror except at one ruffled edge; it enlarges and rises as the train advances, revealed as an optical illusion over grassy plain.