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OBSERVATIONS AT LOVEN'S
At station A (elev. 3,550 ft), near
Loven's Hotel, which is the place
from which the light was first seen,
the outlook is restricted on the south
by a projecting ridge (see inset
sketch, fig. 1), which cuts off the
view of the region west of the east-
ern part of Morganton, approximately
the region southwest of line 3 on the
map. Northward from Lenoir the coun-
try becomes rougher, and few lights
from areas north of that place may be
seen from Loven's, so that practically
all the lights that originate beyond
Brown Mountain and are seen from
station A lie in an arc between Lenoir
and line 3 and are therefore seen over
Brown Mountain. This fact accounts lor
the original association of the ob-
served lights with Brown Mountain and
hence for the name "Brown Mountain
light." It also probably accounts for
the "prescribed circle" of appearance
of the light noted in Colonel Harris'
letter to Senator Simmons.
On the evening of March 29, the
writer was accompanied to station A
by Joseph Robert and Earl Loven, of
Cold Spring, and Robert Ward, of
Morganton. The light on line I, when
viewed in the telescope of the ali-
dade, was accompanied by one or two
subordinate lights. Its position was
unchanged throughout the evening, but
it varied in brightness. At some
times, for long periods, it was so
dim that it was practically invisible
to the naked eye, though it was faint-
ly shown in the telescope. At other
times it flared brightly, so that
Joseph Loven pronounced it a true
manifestation of the Brown Mountain
light. Its position and its relation
to the accompanying lights were not
affected by the flaring. Two of the
observers said that they could see it
waver or move, but as seen through
the telescope each time this statement
was made its position was found to be
unchanged.
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At
about 8:40 lights appeared suc-
cessively and nearly in the same line
over the middle of the mountain. The
directions of those lights are shown
in lines 2a and 2b. Line 2a is tan-
gent to a curve in the track of the
Southern Railway about a mile and a
half northwest of Conover. From train
schedules it was determined that a
-westbound freight train passed this
curve at the time noted. Line 2b is
probably a poorer sight at the same
light and may represent an error of
observation due to the writer's ina-
bility in the darkness to use the
crosshairs of the instrument. It may,
however, point to an automobile
headlight.
The light at 10:45 on line 2a ap-
pears from its vertical angle to have
originated about a mile and a half
east of Conover. It is not accounted
for by the train schedule for that
evening and was probably an auto-
mobile headlight.
Lines 3 and 4 are credited to auto-
mobiles. Line 5 represents a loco-
motive headlight near Connelly
Springs.
The flares seen from station A all
looked much alike and corresponded
closely with the description quoted
from Professor Perry's letter. Robert
Loven said that the lights as he had
usually seen them were so much bright-
er than these that he did not think
the party had actually seen the Brown
Mountain light. Joseph Loven, however,
said that he had seen the lights both
when they were brighter and when they
were not so bright, and he was satis-
fied that the lights observed were a
fair average exhibition of the Brown
Mountain light.
ORSERVATIONS AT GINGERCAKE MOUNTAIN
Station B, on Gingercake Mountain,
is about 500 feet higher than station
A, and the arc over which the lights
are visible is correspondingly in-
creased. Brown Mountain covers about
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