Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/290

286 The general skepticism regarding the existence of this phenomenon has been illustrated many times of late and has furnished the people of Coudersport with an endless source of amusement.

In the early part of the summer of 1911 a certain man of Detroit, Michigan, came to visit relatives in Coudersport. He was, of course, taken to see the ice mine, which was in its prime at that season of the year. Upon his return to Detroit he wrote a short article for one of the Detroit papers in which he told of this wonder that he had seen near Coudersport and offered to bet any one and every one $100 or more that his fictitious-sounding story was true. A millionaire ice manufacturer took the bet and eight other business men of Detroit followed suit. Two newspaper men were selected as stake-holders to decide the

bets. They visited the mine and, of course, verified the newspaper story, much to the disgust of the nine losers.

It is claimed by a great many persons who hear of this phenomenon, never by those who actually see it, in the summer time, that the ice is not formed during the summer, but is only an accumulation from the preceding winter. It was to prove the falsity of this claim that the writer visited the mine many times during the winter and spring of 1912. The existing conditions were found to be as follows:

The pit or shaft is about eight feet in diameter by twelve feet deep and, as shown in the sketches, is located at the base of a steep hill. In the winter time the pit is comparatively dry and free from ice. The temperature inside is the same as that prevailing outside. In the