The Newtown bee., 1902-08-08

HE TELLS SOME GOOD STORIES.-SOME- THING ABOUT HIS ATTRACTIVE PLACE.
 In Leslie's Weekly for July 3l is page of illustrations of the damage wrought by great flood at Decorah, Iowa. It has something of local in- terest as this town was the home of our friend and townsman, D. c. Bacon, for about B or 40 years, previous to his returning to Connecticut II years ago. Wishing to learn more about this town and the great flood, the editor turned his footsteps, the other day, toward his pleasant homestead in South Gen. ter.
 The flood in question did damage amounting to $1 100000 and had some features that were very peculiar. The inundation was caused by cloud burst which followed ten days rain. A wall of water eight feet high rushed down Dry Run, a small creek which passes through the town, destroying much property and drowning two per sons. M. T. Torsen, who was near his barns, was swept away, but managed to grasp the handle of a neighbours pump, to which he clung until he was rescued. His barns were borne along for several blocks and were deposited in the middle of street, without dam: age to their contents, which included a horse and COW. A hose cart was washed away from an engine house down street, the hose unwinding as the apparatus moved on. Richard Bucknell's one-story cottage was car ried three blocks and lodged against a large brick house. The rising water drove the family up to the attic, and MT Bucknell cut a hole in the roof through which he and his wife and children climbed into the secOnd-stOry window of the brick residence and were saved. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul branch railroad was torn up for several miles. Two railroad bridges were swept half mile from their foundations and piled together in smashed condition in grove. A section of the railroad 459 feet long was carried down stream, and 12O feet of it showed under the lowest wire of a barbedwire fence without disturbing the latter. Nearly 100 feet of rails was bent into the shape of figure 6 with out breaking the post on which the | strain must have come. In some places rails were twisted around trees and broken off. A third railroad bridge was landed in a picnic ground. This was the fourth disastrous flood in Decorah during the past 27 years, but, as in the previous instances, the in- habitants went energetically to work
 to repair the damages, and now the town is itself once more.
 Iowa that would make the average citizen shake his head and think he
 was either deranged or on the road to
 beat Ananias, but knowing him to be
 a square man and a citizen of inf1eX- ible honesty and veracitY, we believed
 every word of his story, for he had documentary evidence in addition to
 his own testimony which was enough
 to convince us. The story was de-
 scription of natural phenomenon-a
 cave near DecOrah, varying in width
 from three or four feet to 15 or 20, and
 about 200 feet long. In summer the
 air in the cave is so cold that ice forms
 in sheet several inches thick on the
 hottest days. In winter, however, the
 cave is so warm that it will not freeze and all signs of ice disappear MI Bacon told of man living some dis
 tance from the cave who started to dig cistern. He had not gone very deeI when he struck draft of cold air anC being an ingenious man he changed his plans and made a refrigerator ir place of ciStern. This he did by 7 putting in an ordinary dry goods box which in summer is as cool as refrig- l era tor need be, and in winter, strange
 as it may seem, is warm and will moi freeze even though it be exposed to the cOldest weather. Speaking of tht natural ice box reminded one of the l others of well which is also located
 near Decorah, but at the same time is l. a considerable distance from either th'
 refrigerator or the cave. The wate e in the we'll is so cold in summer tha the surface frequently freezes over ant y ice forms on the curb stones, but il .- winter the water is too warm to b
 used for drinking. No explanation wa e afforded as to the cause of this phenom
 enon, as no one felt capable of solving e the mystery of nature. Several scien Y, tific men, however, including Pro t AgassiZ, have made a study of it an ,s have written articles concerning it.
 Taking it all in all. we were ampl
 l for II l,