Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1893 — A Natural Luxury. [ARTICLE]

A Natural Luxury.

An Eastern man, while traveling in the Northwest, stopped for a time with a family in North Dakota. It was in July, and clear, cold water—a luxury he did not often find—was most acceptable. The water on the table was so sweet and so very cold that he was led to remark on its excellence. “Yes, our well has always satisfied us, and we think we have a good thing when we can draw ice water in midsummer. We will show you our refrigerator after dinner.” After dinner out they went, and the New England man was asked to look down. It was a round small trick shaft, much like the old wells seen hereabouts, and went down to an extraordinary depth. But there was a beautiful sight at the bottom. It was, sure enough, a natural ice-watei tank. Pieces of clear ice floated in the water, and a close look showed a thick coating of ice all around the sides for quite a distance above it. The explanation was simple enough. When the bucket is drawn up a little of the water always falls or drips, and often strikes the sides of the well as it falls. In the winter—and Dakota winters are cold—this watei at once freezes, and soon the entire length of the shaft is lined with ice. This thickens at an increasing rate, and it is frequently necessary to cut it away with an ax to make room in which the bucket can slide up and down. In the spring this begins to aelfc, and the ice falls to the bottom The farther down, the slower is the process of melting.