WORLD'S ONLY ICE MINE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 215, 6 October 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

WORLD'S ONLY ICE MINE.

WHERE IT FREEZES IN SUMMER, Thj only ice mine in the world, outside the Polar regions, mas discovered some time back by a fanner in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Noticing that even in the warmes.*. weather a certain spot of ground was always cold, he was led to (fig there in tho hope of discovering a mineral deposit of some kind. Instead, ho found himself presently stand'ng :>t tho mouth of a nearly vertical cave, forty f<*3t deep, and ten or twelve feet in diameter, and from which there rushed an upward blast of ice-cold air. Further investigation revealed the fact that the cavern, or shaft, was lialf filled with ice, and this althougq the month was July. Huge icicles hung from the sides and roof, many of them being two»or three feet in diameter, and tlio bottom piled with ice debris. Geologists from all over the world hava visited the place, but none of thom is able to explain why Ihe mine happens to be where it is; or ,why tho ice should farm in summer and melt iu winter, as it does in this instance.

The ice is formed from a pacul'ar white mist which comes up through blow-holes in the floor and sides of the cave. It begins to appear in May, and by the end of August the mine is practically filled bv a solid mass of gigantic icicles. In October the thaw sets in, and by Christmas, or soon after, the ice has all disappeared. At present the mine is used by tho farmer's wife as a natural cold storage cellar, poultry, fish, eggs, and so forth remaining fresh there for weeks on end. The ice is aJso mined in blocks, and sold to the neighbours at the rata of about two shillings a hundredweight.