Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 351, 29 January 1903, Page 2

Traveller.

ICE CAVES. »<JW;OWHEBE in the world does there il«Iv ex ' B * an ' n<^ns^r y 80 unique as that just being put in operation in northern Arizona, where elaborate plans are being laid to utilize the products of the ice caves in existence there, says the 'Brooklyn Eaple.' Strange it seems, too, that in this land of great heat, where in some places ice is a priceless luxury, made so by excessive freight rates which prevail in the territories man's ingenuity has not heretofore conceived the wholesale appropriation of the if lief which nature has provided. Not until very recently has any attempt been made to take away the apparently inexhaustible quantities of ice which have been found in the caves near Flagstaff. Now, however, it is intended to literally mine or quarry the ice, and the promoters of the scheme declare it will prove a grsafc profit producer from the very outset, as they expect to secure ice enough to not only supply the scores of smaller stations, towns and lumber camps, in that vicinity, bat to provide a supply for the railroads of northern Arizona and New Mexico, even into California, as in the vast regions of what was once the northern part of the great American desert ice factories have not yet become common. Indeed, the factories of Los Angelos, P&ceaix, Albuquerque and Lis Yegas have for years supplied most of that district with ice, although at prices that necessarily were prohibitive, made so by the long railway haul. The mair, or best known ice caveß, lies at tbe head of Clark's Valley, seventeen miles southwest of Flagstaff. Although others may be larger, they are not so accessible. A. waggon road leads nearest to the cave, and the Arizona Lumber Co.'s railroad passed near, but its route has since been changed. The people of the country think the cave was originally what it termed a 'blow-out/ that is, a volcanic vent made by water or gas, during some convulsion of nature, in the early history of our planet. There are many of three 'blow-outs' of various siz.s and extent scattered over Arizona.

But comparatively few people have visited the caves until recent years, when the tourists first began to learn of the great natural wonders of northern Arizona. But little, too has been written which is at all authentic of the caves. The earliest mention that can be found of the ice caves is in the report of Lieut, R. O. Kill, who beaded an exploring expeditiou through northern Arizona and southern California, Utah, and Colorado early in the '4os. He speaks of an immensely deep fissure, where nature had stored many tons of ice. * And when we descended part part way into the fissure,' says Hill, ' the change from the terrific July heat was so quick and intense as to mate many of us severely ill. Indeed, it was not less than 60 degrees' drop in temperature which we encountered in the ccuree of perhaps twenty minutes of cur descent.'

The Hill party took along a supply of ice, which lasted them for several days, a luxury; certainly, under the fierce beating of the sun on that then trackless desert. EXFLOBATIONS RECENTLY. Hill says that the Indians of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes knew of the ice caves, but never ventured near them, having fear of what was to them a supernatural creation. Until recently the main cave had-only been penetrated to a depth of 200 feet, and even that distance could only be reached by the possessors of small bodies. At that time E E Dutton, a young man from New Yoik succeeded in creeping and crawlin? through the narrow crevices at tbe 200 foot point, and over 100 feet further he found the cavity gradually widening until it grew into a cavern much larger than near the surface. He found several smaller caves leading out of the large one, all in almost solid ice, and he believes that they lead far down into tie earth. The majority of visitors have gone less than fifty feet into the earth, progreßß being made only en hands and knees and by aid of a rope. The cave is a tortuous passa e through the rock and ice, and although in no place has any other opening than that at the surface been found, the ventilation is perfect, a condition which has led Dutton to make plans for further exploration of the cave and its recesses during the coming summer, ia the belief that other openings may be found. Commercial Value. Dutton is at the bead of the company is planning to put to commercial nse the ice in tbe caves. He has planned a road to be bnilt to the caves and he declares that by considerable blasting of the cave's mouth an output of several thousand tons per day may be secured. Dutton is arranging for a series of hoists by which he may raise the ice to the Burface, and the apparatus is so simple and of such an inexpensive nature that he is sanguine that he can market his ice at prices which could not be met by any factories which may attempt to rival his business. PROGENY OF DEUNKAEDS. A French doctor publishes as the result of fifteen years' study in hospitals and prisons his conclusion that 25 per cent of the hospital patients inherited vitiated constitutions from alcoholic parents, and that 65 per cent of tbe criminals received the germ of their criminal instinct before birth. He also says that no habitual drunkard can have sound children, and that out of several thousand drunkards' children examined not one exception was found.