located as to show as well as this
one the atmospheric phenomena de-
scribed, and the opportunities here
for the observation of such phenomena
are perhaps no less exceptional.
Loven's Hotel and Blowing Rock, which
are resorts that attract fishermen or
tourists, are among the most favor-
able places of observation. The valley
is fairly well settled and has a net-
work of roads, three railroads, and
several large towns, so that the
possible sources of light are very
numerous.

As the basin and its atmospheric
conditions antedate the earliest
settlement of the region, it is pos-
sible that even among the first set-
tlers some favorably situated light
may have attracted attention by
seeming to flare and then diminish or
go out, As the country became more
thickly settled the number of chances
for such observations would increase.
Before the advent of electric lights,
however, it is doubtful whether such
observations could have been suffi-
ciently numerous to cause much com-
ment, though some persons may have
noted and remarked upon them.

According to local estimates elec-
tric lights have been in use in the
larger towns of the region for about
30 years. Lights from those towns
viewed from the locality near Loven's,
which for a long time was the only
locality from which the lights were
observed, are, with the exception of
those from Morganton and Blowing Rock,
all seen over Brown Mountain hence
the "prescribed -circle" mentioned by
Colonel Harris.

The use of powerful electric head-
lights on railway locomotives, which
began about 1909, furnished new
sources of strong lights in the val-
ley and introduced an element of reg-
ularity in their appearance, which
may account for the "punctual regu-
larity" noted in the first descrip-
tion. After Rev. C. E. Gregory took

up his summer residence near Loven's
Hotel, in 1910, the Brown Mountain
light began to acquire notoriety.
Meanwhile, automobiles were coming
into use throughout the country, and
many of them were equipped with pow-
erful headlights. Within the last few
years their number has been greatly
1ncreased, and this fact is in keep-
ing with the general deduction al-
ready made--that on a favorable eve-
ning the lights are seen more fre-
quently now than formerly.

During the flood of 1916, when
train service was temporarily dis-
continued, the basin east of Marion,
where the atmospheric conditions are
disturbed, was still the scene of the
intermittent flare of favorably sit-
uated lights. Automobiles were then
in use in the larger towns and on
some of the intervening roads, and
their headlights were doubtless visi-
ble from Loven's over Brown Mountain.
One need only remember the network of
roads in the valley region (see top-
ographic maps of the Morganton and
Hickory quadrangles) to realize the
almost infinite number of possibil-
ities for automobile headlights to be
pointed toward Brown Mountain and
stations of observation beyond. It
should be emphasized, too, that auto-
mobile headlights and locomotive
headlights, when seen at distances
and under atmospheric conditions such
as those which prevail in this region,
possess no characteristic that clear-
ly distinguishes them from other
lights. On the contrary, as stated by
the lady at Blowing Rock, they look
"as much alike as so many peas in a
pod,". though this statement should
not be understood to mean that some
may not be brighter than others.
Col. Wade H. Harris, in his letter
to Senator Simmons already cited,
says: "A locomotive headlight is eas-
ily and unmistakably distinguished as
such, not only by the rays it shoots
forth, but from its movements * * *.