Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1894 — MONTANA HAS AN ICE MINE. [ARTICLE]

MONTANA HAS AN ICE MINE.

Proapaecon Cslag It M a Ref rlferator aad Meat Safe. An “ice mine" Is reported from New York Gulch, Meagher County, Montana. In early days the gulch turned out $2,000,000 worth of gold, but of late years It has been nearly deserted. Last summer, says the Northwest Magazine, two prospectors uncovered the mouth of an old shaft and glanced curiously down it. They saw the Ice, which reached up to within four feet and eight inches of the surface. They considered it curious, and thought what a good place it would be to keep their meat, butter and other food from spoiling while they were working in the neighborhood. They lowered their provender into the ice mine with the best results. Naturally they told of their And to other miners, with the result that for a radius of three or four miles around the miners came to the ice shaft, lowered the beef and other provisions into the mine, putting their tag on it, and hoisting the rope from time to time as provisions were needed. It is a godsend to the miners, as it enables them to keep meat fresh in the very hottest weather. The miners are unable to give any solution of this strange phenomenon. The formation of the gulch is shale, reddish in color and full of fissures. It is supposed that gusts of air from a cold cave may have underground connections with the shaft, and rapid evaporation near the top may explain the continued formation of ice there as it iv cut away.