In Guthrie, Oklahoma Professor Stouffer prepared his camera for the two minutes for which all scientists had waited. Two minutes after the darkness fell, light began to reappear around the edge of the sun and daylight reappeared once again, just in time for sunset. Thousands of Kansans held blackened glass to their eyes as they observed the solar event. In the southwest portion of the state where the sun’s light was completely obscured, residents noticed their chickens returning to their coops to roost, dairy cattle returned to the barns for the night, and birds roosted in the trees as darkness enveloped the landscape for just over two minutes. The eclipse was scheduled to occur in Kansas at 5:25 pm, and it arrived on schedule. The Hutchinson News described the solar eclipse as “the big event” in its Jedition. Then, they will go half way around the world to make their observations.” Insofar as Lawrence, Kansas would only experience a 92% eclipse, Professor Stouffer packed his scientific equipment and camera and traveled to Guthrie, Oklahoma, which was located in the center point of the eclipse’s shadow. It is only at these rare intervals of a total eclipse that scientists are interested. Professor Stouffer remarked on the scientific importance of a total eclipse, noting, “There is no scientific value in a partial eclipse. A telescope would be a hindrance, for it would enable one to only see a part of the eclipse at a time.” Stouffer planned to photograph stars which become visible during periods of total eclipse, and then compare those images with those taken from the same location at other times to assess the effect of gravitation on light waves. “The eclipse can best be seen-to get a view of the eclipse itself-by the use of a bit of smoked glass and the unaided eye. Professor Stouffer was quoted in the Wichita Daily Eagle of June 8 th instructing viewers of the eclipse in the proper techniques to view the sun. Newspapers across the southwest part of the state predicted that “hundreds of viewers” would descend on their towns to view the eclipse.
Newspaper articles of the day warned people to avoid damaging their eyes by viewing the eclipse without the aid of “smoked glass” or “multiple layers of exposed photographic film” to protect the eye’s retina from burning. Other scientific studies of the eclipse hoped to verify Einstein’s theory of relativity and modify Newton’s laws of gravitation. Stouffer of the astronomy department at the University of Kansas led the University’s scientific efforts to study the eclipse, telling the press that he planned to photograph the corona in an effort to prove or disprove the existence of theoretical planets located between Mercury and the sun. Excitement in the scientific community was considerable.
The Smithsonian Institute established a research observatory at Lakin, Kansas, centered in the band of totality of the eclipse, while many other universities and research scientists established viewing sites along the path of darkness. The Walnut Valley Times of Eldorado, Kansas used an illustration to explain the solar eclipse to its readers in the Jedition. The 1918 eclipse’s band of totality spanned the country with land sightings beginning near Seattle Washington and spreading across the continent to Orlando, Florida before passing into the Atlantic Ocean however, the eclipse’s shadow only crossed Kansas in the southwest corner of the state. Newspapers across the country published maps showing the path of the eclipse’s shadow along with a timetable of the event as it spread across the continent from west to east. In 1918, Americans who resided within the 50-mile swath of the eclipse’s shadow were excited at the prospect of seeing the sun obscured by the moon but even in areas where the eclipse was only partial, there was considerable anticipation of the event. Kansas residents were generally excited with the prospect of seeing the eclipse, and newspaper articles warned readers that there would not be another opportunity to view a total eclipse in the state until 2017. In fact, it is an event that is witnessed in Kansas about once every century. However, it is very rare when one is visible over North America. Solar eclipses are not a rare event at least one occurs somewhere on earth every year. A total solar eclipse was scheduled to occur on June 8, 1918. However, in the summer of 1918 a total solar eclipse was scheduled to sweep across the United States, diverting the headlines of newspapers from stories of the war and the flu epidemic. The Topeka Daily Capital newspaper of Jreported on the upcoming Jtotal eclipse of the sun.
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