Around the same time, Percival Lowell (a rich
Bostonian) was building what was then
the world's premier observatory
(Lowell
Observatory)
in Flagstaff, Arizona, to search for life on Mars.
Lowell claimed to have seen all kinds of fantastic things
on Mars including ornate canal systems that no one else
could see. He also documented the fact that Mars'
surface appeared to change colors (light to dark)
which he attributed to the passing of seasons and
the seasonal cycles of plants on Mars.