Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-01-26
Air-HoIes iniIce.

1 All I@1OACo M luz
81 There are some curious facts Connected
with thee air.holes yhioh. 7 form them
selves during winter. There are often
particular spots where partial openings
! in the ice will be formed every winter.
These conceive to arise from warm
springs, and to have no connection with
air-holes properly so called, which are not
confined to any particular locality, but
may appear anywhere There is always
a good deal of air under ice, and you may
often see it scattered about in small bub-
bles when the ice is thin. It is probably
air excluded in the process of crystah-
-zation, and when there is added to it
sundry gases formed from decaying mat
| ter in the water, it amounts during the
I winter to a considerable quantity. Such
collections of air, like the bubble in a
spirit-level, are in a very uneasy condi-
ton, and are rapidly transferred from
Lone place to another on any casual dis
| turbance of the level, giving rise to one
of the numerous noises which are always
more or less heard on q lake covered
4 with ice-at least, we used always to at
\ tribute to this cause peculiar groaning
sound which was, very. common. Now,
if there should be any casual inequality
| in the lower surface of the ice, the air
! will naturally collect there, and if it is
above 80 deg. F., which so far as it con-
4 sists of evoled gas it probably Will be, the
Receptacle will be increased by, thaWing.
/ A ,dome-shaped cavity will thus be grad
ually formed, which will finally reach the
| surface ;,air will escape from, below, and
| the surface-water, of which there is al
/ most always more or less after the snow
has fallen, will, run down from, above,
wearing the little jagged channels which
are characteristic of air-holes.1 The
4 Al 81 II
| freeze up again, leaving an indication of
| where the air.hole has been in the diff
| ferent color of the freshly-formed ice. 1
] have tried several such air-holes with an
axe when fist formed, and have always
4 found them to lead to such a dome
shaped cavity. remember on one occa-
sion an otter freqdenting a large air-hole
which remained open for some time, and
which must have been a mile and a half
tol two. miles distant from the nearest
open water. How did he reach it for
no otter can travel that distance under
l5water without access to air. The Indians
say that they will go to greater distances
still under the ice, and that they always
find air>there. tits likely enough that
there may be many such dome-shaped
cavities, which have not yet reached,
| land may never reach, the surface as air
holes, but one would imagine the air
I they contain to be not of the most
bwholesome s,7character.f However, this
otter did frequent the air-hole for about
a week, which it certainly did not reach
by traEeling' on the ice, and though it
had few chances of breathing there in
the daytime at any rate, 1t eontrived
during that, period to elude the snares of
white man and of an Indian, who
wasted good deal of time in looking
2. -
L so far, the process of the formation of
air holes, if am right in my explana-
| ton, is mtelilgibIe enough but some
times they are formed in a manner
which is difficult to account for. Upon.
| one occasion hzz3 crossed the-lal<e to
| a friends house, about four miles off, and
we had determined to start together
next morning to our nearest town, but /
had to go home first. | first went over
by daylight, when there certainly was
nothing unusual in the appearance of
the ice, which might be four or five in
ches' thick at the time, with slight
sprinkling of wettish snow on 1t. /
returned home about eleven at night,
| aud, as it was bright starlight, with only
a few floating clouds, i should have
noticed any change but l came straight
| across, and saw nothing to attract atten-.
ton. But when Ilcrossed again at day
| light in the morning, in one part of the
lake the whole surface was covered with
air.holes- there must have, been hum
dreds of them. At first 1 gave them
rather wide berth, but, on approaching
to one to examine it, 1 found it frozen
up again, the clear ice in the hole, with
very Slight indications of the character
istic jagged edges, being the only sign
| that there had been an open air-hole
there during the night. Ihad no axe
with me to try whether they were con-
nected with any cavity, but the appear
anceIwas as if holes of from two to five
or six inches, in diameter had been
punched through the ice. OF course we
attributed it to electricity, as people will
do. anything which. they, do not. other
wise understand, and have never been
| able to give any more ineligible expla-
nation of the phenomenon. There
certainly had been some faint sheet
lightning that night, a very unusual
thing in winter; but what connection, if
any, there may have been between the
two things, I cannot 'tell.--Ffon Nat''re
sa = s5a3 VI =E - IL John LANGToN' /.