Freezing Tunnel on the Hagerman Pass, Colorado. (_Philadelphia Press_,
October 16th, 1897.)--The Hagerman Pass Railroad line is said to
have been abandoned after the completion of the Busk-Ivanhoe tunnel,
but to have been rebuilt. The Hagerman tunnel for a distance of over
700 meters was filled with solid ice, and it required blasting with
dynamite, and a month's continuous labor, day and night, to dig the ice
out.
Freezing Cavern in Cow Mountain, Colorado. (_Post Dispatch_, St. Louis,
Mo., July 13th, 1897, and September 5th, 1897. _Mail Order Monthly_,
St. Paul, Minn., October, 1899.)--The cave was discovered by parties
doing assessment work on a group of claims. A man was picking in a
three meter hole when he struck his pick into an opening, which was
gradually enlarged and showed a deep pit underneath. The men got a rope
and descended into an immense cavern full of ice. Later exploration
led to a small hall, some 5 meters in diameter, full of icicles. From
here a fissure led into a second rock chamber larger than the first. A
small hole in the floor at an angle of some 45° gave access to a third
and larger hall, about 25 meters by 40 meters. Great masses of ice were
found in this, also a small lake, about 12 meters by 20 meters. "Some
who have visited the wonderful discovery are of the opinion that it
is a great cave or fissure in a glacier which for centuries has been
slowly making its way down from Pike's Peak and whose waters are now
feeding the Arkansas River."
Windhole, Arizona. (_Christian Herald_, March 24th, 1897.)--Mr. Cofman,
while drilling a well on his place, is said to have opened a windhole
from which the escaping air current was strong enough to blow off the
hats of the men who were recovering the lost drill. Some days the air
escapes with such force that pebbles the size of peas are thrown up,
accompanied by a sound much like the distant bellowing of a fog horn.
Again for days there will be a suction current, unaccompanied by
sound, in which the current of air passes into the earth with somewhat
less force than when escaping, and any light object, as a feather or a
piece of paper, will be immediately sucked in. The account is probably
exaggerated.
Freezing Lava Cave near Flagstaff, Arizona.--Professor W. B. Scott of
Princeton University told me of this cave, which he had not visited
himself. It lies 14.5 kilometers south of Flagstaff, on the Mesa
table land, at an altitude of about 2000 meters. It was described to
Professor Scott as a double cave, with two floors, one over the other,
the lower containing the most ice. It is in lava, and can only be
entered by crawling in on hands and knees.
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