Eclipse Fever

There is so much talk about the eclipse tomorrow – people are flooding into the areas of totality, special glasses have flown off the shelves long ago, and there is great interest in what our animals will experience as day turns into night.  Here in my area, we’re expecting about a 92% eclipse.  The last total eclipse in the Seattle area?  1979.  The last total eclipse that spanned the country?  June 8, 1918.  I wonder what the excitement was like nearly 100 years ago as they prepared for the eclipse in a time without social media and instant access to information.

I’ve heard that in 2017, animal shelters are providing special glasses for pets.  Is there a danger that a dog would look directly at the sun to take a peek?  Did they provide special glasses in 1918?  Was this dog, perhaps, getting ready for the eclipse in 1918?

Photo by Abraham Gunzendorfer, Monterey, California

The path of the 1918 eclipse started south of Japan, went across the Pacific Ocean, and then across the United States. The largest city to see totality was Denver although many could theoretically see it as the size of the shadow was between 70 and 44 miles across as it travelled across America. The longest duration of totality was in the Pacific at a point south of Alaska. The path of the eclipse finished near Bermuda.  ^{From wikepedia}

My family was in California (Fresno, Monterey, Santa Cruz) at that time and I wondered what they were hearing and seeing.  Big newspapers of that time were in San Francisco and Oakland and from what I found with a quick search, much like today there was a lot of hype about the upcoming event.

There was a pretty good description of what to expect on page 4 of the June 7, 1918 edition of the Oakland Tribune.



Looks like they were anticipating a 79% shadow in the Bay Area.  Lots of excitement for an event that would last somewhere between 45 seconds and 2 minutes.  Hope my ancestors had their smoked glass ready!

And on the day of the eclipse, June 8, 1918, the San Francisco Chronicle got people even more excited with more information on page 3.

I can just imagine people standing together with their glasses on.  No instant communication back then – you either saw it or you didn’t.  Tomorrow I imagine many of us will be streaming it into the comfort of our own home.



And the day after brought us more pictures as seen here from page 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 1918.



What an exciting time that must have been.  And then it hit me – I have letters that my grandparents wrote back and forth to each other in 1918.  Could they have talked about the eclipse in their letters?

A quick scan of Loraine’s and I found nothing of interest.  But there in the box of letters from Sig to Loraine waiting to be transcribed, his letter of Sunday, June 9, 1918 caught my eye.

After some sweet nothings and explanation of how business was going, he got to this:

"Did you see the eclipse of the sun yesterday.  It was absolutely perfect down this way.  I looked at it through smoked glass – you know we only see that once every hundred years so I guess you and I won’t see many of them.”

So he was right – they didn’t see any together.  But did they ever in their wildest imaginations envision their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even great great grandchildren experiencing one a century later?

Enjoy the eclipse tomorrow and if you’re planning to watch in person, be sure to wear your special glasses (if, in fact, you were actually able to score some).