Evening journal., 1899-02-08
ICE FROM A NINE
Natural Refrigerator in the Noun
tains of Montana.
A Wen That Freezes I'm Summer and
Thnvs Out In WiBter-An In
terestinE Freak of
Nature.


east of the Cheyenne Indian agency in
Custer county. Mont. is well filled
with ice that excites much curiosity
among the ranchers and cattle men of
that section. Every cowboy who visits
the well has much to tell and invariably
advances his own explanation. Many
ingenious theories are given which tend
TO indicate that mankind of all degrees
of scientific knowledge put forth an ef-
fort to find the origin of things; how
ever, they all agree that the ice forms
in the well during the summer and that
it actually thaws during the winter.
This apparent contradiction of the
natural laws that govern the outside
world has carried the fame Of this well
for miles around, and people have tray-
eled great distances TO witness the for
nation of icicles during the hot wealth
er Of July.
This well is within few hundred
feet of the summit of the Little Wolf
mountains, on the north slope, at the
very beginning of Greenleaf creek,
which empties into the Rosebud eight
miles below and about so miles from
where the Rosebud joins the Yellow
stone river. This portion of the noun
tins is covered with dense growth of
tall pines.
Fourteen years ago three men pros
pecting for silver, mistaking certain
colors in the rocks, began sinking
shaft; Mt Is feet it was disagreeably
cold; at 20 feet the cold had increased
so rapidly that they were thoroughly
frightened. They could feel currents
of colo air rushing up from the crevices
in the rock; they imagined they were
i digging into some mysterious under
/ ground cavern; they had heard just
enough of wonderful adventures Of dig
1 ging into caves and underground lakes,
and being alone in this wilderness
where the very stiffness permitted the
ears to hear and the mind TO imagine
all manner of grewsome powers hid
beneath the rock, 50 thoroughly filed
them with the fear of impending dan
ger that they abandoned the work,
which has since gained such renown.
The SUBMITS of the Little Wolf
/.
which has all the appearance and tex
ture of a good grade of tiling. 1t is
usually red, but varies in color through
all the shades down to black. These
varying colors give the beautiful tints
to the thousands of buttes throughout
the bad lands. In comparatively recent
geological times vast beds of Ignite
coal were formed over the eastern halt
of Montana extending into western
Dakota. The burning of the beds OF
coal was the beginning OF the bad-land
formation; the fine deposits of clay
above the coal were burned as brick
are burned in kiln and formed the
scoria; where the heat was greater and
rock or sand was present it melted and
mixed with the coal and coal ash, form
ing large cinder-like rocks, which are
sometimes mistaken for lava.
As the coal burned out from beneath
the clay, now baked into scoria and
melted into cinders, broke into small
divisions and fell promiscuously down
into he pits thus formed. Volcanic ash
q is found scattered over the Little Vol
Q mountains and the eastern portion oi
/ Montana. i must have drifted Will
the wind from powerful eruptions in
the Rocky mountains, as there are nc
indications of any volcanic action in the
vicinity of the ice well. The Little Vol
mountains are merely n high range ol
buttes apparently of the same origin
e as all the bad land buttes. Their sum
mits, towering above all the other
buttes, has given them the name Of
mountains, but they are only of slight
p ly over 1000 feet altitude.
I During the winter the well is nearly
+ filled with snow. Enough water from
. the early spring rains finds its way
z through between the rocks to mix will
the snow and freeze into one solid mass
= of ice. The ice in the we'll is formed 10y
the cold of the winter season, but does
not begin to form sometimes till th,
winter is half gone. In turn IL is melt
ed by the heat of the summer, but does
not begin to melt until the summer Il
half over. In the early part of the sum
mer it is still freezing in the well, ans
during the first half Of the winter it il
still melting. The we'll acts as a refrig
orator It receives the heat slowly, anC
then gives it OF just as slowly. If tn
earth received and gave off heat rapid
ly, the hottest weather would be il
June and the coldest in December-iI
: fact, the seasons follow nearly monti
behind the sun. The conditions sur
: rounding the ice well cause it to fol
low the seasons from six to eight week
later.
, It is a fact that il on a hot day yo'
, walk rapidly into the cave to where tn
, ice is, it feels asGhough q strong cur
rent of cold air were blowing agains
, your face. The sensation is so decid
, edly real that it requires careful
demonstration to prove to the con
! trary. and eventhen it almost seems a
Z though the demonstration had been
I mistake. 1t can be easily tested by us
ing smoke, or better still, a rathe
l heavy eolored glass. Again. If on
: should stand without the entrance Il
] Ha