The suburban citizen., 1900-10-27
COUDERSP0RT ICE MINE.
REMARKABLE SOUVENIR OF THE
GLACIAL ACE IN Pennsylvania.

sand Years 1t Has lasted
Coudersport, Penn, does not occupy
very conspicuous spot on the map
but to-day Coudersport is noteworthy.
"Greenland's icy mountains ana In
dia's coral strand in juXtaposition,
an ice cave under foot and troplc heat
over head, are Coudersports twin IT,
ties to fame. In Northern Pennsylva-
mia, as well as nearly everywhere else
in these United States, it was unusu-
ally hot last summer, but in this ham
let, in Potter County, one had only to
descend a rude ladder, leading to a
small cavern under ground, to find
frost, iccles and December zephyrs.
Icy stalactites ranging from an inch
to three feet in thickness hung from
the roof of the Coudersport 'ice mine"
during one Of the hottest hot waves
Of last August. According to the
statements of men Of good repute in
that neighborhood this phenomenon
is visible from May until October
every year, but this summer additional
explorations of the ice mine have re-
I
vealed unwOnted wonders.
The scientific explanation of the phe-
nomenon is this: Eons ago Southern
New York, Northern and Northeastern
Pennsylvania were covered to a tre-
mendous depth by glacial deposits.
Scientists have dug down and found
far below the ground. where the
earth's heat should have increased
materially over the surface tempera-
ture, streams Of icy cold water. The
Subterranean flows were the liquid re-
mainders Of the great glacier which
swept across Canada, by way of Lake
Erie, Pennsylvania, New York and
Long Island to the Atlantic,
In the Journal Of the Franklin In
stitute of Philadelphia, issued in Jan
uary 1888, Professor II. Colville Lewis
presented q map showing the bound
ary Of this glacial area in connection
with an exhaustive lecture which he
delivered before the institute on
"The Great Terminal Moraine Across
Pennsylvania"
In the beginning Of his monograph
Professor Lewis says
"When Agassiz, over forty years ago,
after a prolonged study Of the Swiss
glaciers, announced the conclusion that
large portions of the continents of
North AmeYica and Europe were once
| covered by an immense glacier thou
sands Of miles in extent and several
thousands of feet in thickness, geolo
gists the world over were startled at
what then seemed an impossible hy-
pothess.
To-day there is hardly a truth in
geology more widely accepted or capa-
BILE of more conclusive proof"
Three phenomena plainly indicate
the progress Of the great Northern
Drift: a. the mantel Of "till' "a de.
poslt Of stones and clay unsHatlfed by
water), which isa characteristic feature
of the Allegheny plateau, in Potter
County, Pennsylvania, % the longitu-
| dlnally scratched powders nowhere
found except in the vicinity Of gla-
| ciers, and (3) the smoothed or striated
! rock surfaces, another glacial remind
er. All these go to prove the correct
ness Of Agassizs hypothesis, for SINH
lar phenomena are found at the foot
of many Swiss glaciers. Just as the
ancient Swiss glacier carried powders
from Mont Blanc to the Juras, so this
great continental glacier carried them
from Canada across Lake Erie into
Pennsylvania.
Just as the Greenland glacier now
fills the valleys and overtops the
mountains, so this larger glacier ad'
vanced over mountain and valley
alike in a continuous sheet to its final
halting place only sixty miles nortl
Of Philadelphia. At its edge, as OBJ
served in Pennsylvania, this glacier
must have been 800 feet thick. A
hundred miles back from its edge
among the Catskills, 1t was at least
300 feet thick, while 200 miles fur
ther, in Northern New England, II
was 5000 feet thick.
There are data, says Professor
Lewis, which indicate that the glacier
did not finally withdraw from the
United States until as recently a'
10000 to $4,000 years ago. Professor
Wright finds from a study Of glacia
"kettle holes in Massachusetts tina
the accumulation Of peaty matter il
it, whether caused by growth Of veg
etable matter or by winds and rains
is equal to a level deposit Of eight fee
in thickness. At the rate of one incl
in a century, which is probably les
than the true rate, according to T. }
fessor Lewis, this would place tin
close of the glacial epoch at less thai
10000 years ago.
In Kansas similar ice cayerns, o
"kettle holes" have been found II
the Kansas Journal Of March, 1891
Mr.. J. Ritchie describes In detail thes
ice caverns and other glacial phenOm
ena, and the Kansas Journal previous
ly printed a similar dissertation b.
Professor n. NJ Lowe, but none o
these "kettle holes" equal in lnteres
the Coudersport find.
It's precise location Is four mile
southeast Of Coudersport -Four year