2 8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE SWEDEN VALLEY ICE MINE AND ITS EXPLANATION 



By MARLIN O. ANDREWS 



LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, SOUTH BETHLEHEM, PA. 



THE Sweden Valley Ice Mine, one of the unexplained mysteries of 

 nature, is located about four miles east of Coudersport, the 

 county seat of Potter County, Pa. A similar phenomenon is situated 

 on Dingman Eun, about three miles west of Coudersport. These are 

 natural ice-manufacturing plants, running under full head during the 

 warm season of the year, but shutting down entirely during the cold 

 months of winter, when there is plenty of ice and snow to be had else- 

 where and when it would seem to be the most natural time for the 

 formation of ice at these places. 



To learn something of the history of the Sweden Valley Ice Mine 

 we must go back to the time when the Indians were the chief inhabit- 

 ants of this particular section of the country. 



A certain tribe knew the location of deposits of silver and lead, 

 which they carefully guarded against discovery both by other bands of 

 Indians and by the few white settlers in that vicinity. As the whites 

 became more numerous the Indians were driven farther west, taking 

 their mineral secrets with them, as well as the scalp of one white hunter 

 who accidentally discovered one of their lead mines. For years accounts 

 of these mines were handed down from one generation to another, until, 

 having become partially civilized, the Indians returned to recover, if 

 possible, some of their lost wealth. They came in bands of five or six 

 and searched the country thoroughly in the vicinity of Coudersport and 

 Sweden Valley, but without success. The country had been so changed 

 by the advance of civilization that they were unable to follow the direc- 

 tions given them by their ancestors and were finally obliged to abandon 

 the undertaking. 



These strange, unexplained actions on the part of the Indians nat- 

 urally aroused considerable curiosity among the residents. They sur- 

 mised that the Indians were searching for minerals, and the ground 

 was again thoroughly gone over, but with no better success. 



A year or so later, in 1894 or 1895, a Cataraugus Indian came to 

 Coudersport, got a lunch and walked off into the woods. After some 

 time he returned with some fine specimens of silver ore which he 

 exhibited to the amazed loungers who gathered around him. He then 

 disappeared without telling any one where he was from, where he 

 secured the ore or where he was going. 



The result of this visit was only natural. Silver mining was the 



