Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-12-07
DEBORAH ICE CAVE.
BY ALOIs f. KOvARIK.
Continued from First Page,

noticed only on very warm days.
Entering the cave, the path has the
direction northwest, and slopes its
whole length, the descent at the fork
Ing of the path, a place IL meters from
the entrance, is Is meters, while the
very end of the cave is about 81 meters
below the entrance. The walls of this
chamber are of solid rock Except the
highest parts of the south walD and on
average meters apart at the base, but
meeting at height of many meters,
forming q sharp diedral angle. July /,
1897, and during the whole summer,
these walls were covered with heavy
moisture, which was gradually disap-
pearing during the fall, so that after
October 80 1 noticed the walls dry, and
likewise through most of the winter
following.
In February, 1898, moisture, in form
of frost, appeared on the walls, the
temperature (see table, then being be-
low freezing.
On entering the cave on the 10Th of
the following month 1 was greatly
amazed by Natures grand view offered
to be looked upon. The walls through
out the cave were covered with heavy
frost of various shapes and sizes, which
reflected the light of my candle, pro-
ducing an excellent effect.
With the approach of spring days,
the quantity aud the beauty of the frost
speedily diminished in this chamber,
till only moisture was left behind.
AS stated supra, the path forks into
two branches. One, the shorter, leads
southwark into small chamber, the
Daylight Chamber" In this ramifi-
cation of the cave, if looking upward,
one may see the daylight as reflected
by the rocks above. The other branch
leads straight westward into the Ice
Chamber. Just by the side of large
Trenton rock standing isolated from
the wall, the path has sudden descent
of 1'5 meters, where rock of danger
Gus appearance oveihangs the path
quite low, making it necessary to bend
to the floor in order to enter the Ice
Chamber.
The crevice above the Daylight
Chamber is on the margin Of the fault
and is meters long, running west.
ward.
In the Ice Chamber the south wal
which is not totally of solid rock,
curves over the path and rests on the
solid, nearly vertical, north wall
Here the path is somewhat narrower
than heretofore, and the roof of the
cave at an average height of only Ii
meters above the floor
AT 6 meters from the division is the
Locus Glacialis," where, during the
spring and fore part of the summer, ict
covers the north wall from the very
top to the very base and about two
meters in width. The thickness of the
ice varies with the part of the season
also with the place on the wall, being
greatest at about the middle point o.
the ice surface. The maximum thick
ness in 1897 was probably July 1, wher
it was about 25 en-. From then il
gradually decreased so that July II il
was only Is en-; July "a, 10 en-; anc
by September all the ice disappeared
After September 3 the temperature in
the cave was continually rising till
October Is, when it reached Its highes
point, II s 80 c., or about the tempeia
ture of cold spring; from thence a grad
ual decrease in temperature continued
till the time of its lowest point This
was February 26, 1898. when the ther.
mometer showed SEQ G.
This year the ice at Locus GIacialis
hrst appeared about May 90. Two
weeks before that time water was drip
ping from the crevices between the
north and the south walls. BEGINNING
with May 20, the ice rapidly increased
in mass, that by June IL, the time OF
maximum quantity, the ice covered
the wall for a width of nearly two me.
tiers, having the greatest thick ness OF
20 cm.
Very rapid decrease was going on
last summer; July l6 only small
quantity was found and this mainly
at the foot of the wall, and by August
all the ice disappeared.
At.6'6 meters from Locus Glacialis il
the place where ice in the spring make,
its first appearance in the cave-thi,
year, March 26. In summer, from tn,
hole, strong current of air into tn,
cave was noticed. To find out how
far this opening led crawled through
the small opening leading northwart
but was soon checked by wall of sole
Trenton rock. Here is the end of tn,
cave. The total length of the cave /.
81 meters. While ice is found at Locu!
Glacialis and at one other place, tn,
rest of the walls of the Ice Chamber
are heavily covered with beautifully
crystalized, heary frost, which, with
its fancy shapes and various sizes
along with the ice on the wall, glister