Giant Flying "Serpents" Seen in North and South USA on 1860's

While buildling the transcontinental Railroad in 1866, workers in the Western United States reported a flying creature or machine in the sky with such detail, that in a popular local ballad it was described covered in "scales like a serpent's hide" though apparently had no wings to propell it.
And only two years later, noted by researchers Jerome Clark and Marcellow Truzzi, a remarkably similar description of such a creature came out of Chile around the same time. In 1868, the scientific publication, "Zoologist" printed this eyewitness description from a Chilean newspaper supposedly likewise seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses:
"On its body, elongated like a serpent, we could see only brilliant scales, which clashed together with a metallic sound as the strange animal turned it body in flight."
What were these creatures, or machines seen at the same time thousands of miles away, and with such detail that eyewitness stated were covered with reptilian like scales? Interestingly these sightings seem remarkably similar to the flying serpent deities of MesoAmerica and the Lung of China believed in by these cultures for thousands of years.
Cryptozoology, Myths and Legends

Source: Pages 16 and 17, UFO's And Ufology, The First 50 Years Paul Devereux and Peter Brookesmith ISBN 0-8160-3800-7