194 FROZEN WELL. 



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The southeasterly dip of these beds of gravel, sand and clay, and the outcrop of lime- 

 stone in two places on the northwest side, make it almost certain that this ridge of modified 

 drift was formed by a current from the latter quarter, pushing the materials over the 

 limestone ridge when the ocean stood above the spot. The pebbles and sand, sorted by 

 the water, would of course take an inclined position on the slope of the limestone, but a 

 horizontal one on the plain or valley. And we may regard the exhibition of the strata 

 at the excavation in the road, as giving us a good idea of the deposit penetrated at the 

 well. 



We ought to add, that the soil in the valley in which the well is situated is clayey, 

 with some pebbles intermixed. Probably gravel is reached very soon in descending, as 

 those who dug the well spoke only of sand and gravel for 10 feet, when it becomes mostly 

 clay for a few feet. The well was stoned up late in the Autumn of 1858, and during the 

 winter, ice formed upon the water in one night, two inches thick. It continued to freeze 

 till April ; after which no ice was formed on the surface, but we can testify that as late 

 as June 25th, the stones of the well, for four or five feet above the surface of the water, 

 were mostly coated with ice ; nay, it had not wholly disappeared July 14th. The 

 temperature of the water was only one degree of Fahrenheit above the freezing point. 

 The ice did, however, disappear in the autumn, but was formed again (how early we did not 

 learn) in the winter, and so thick too that it was necessary to send some one into the well 

 to break it. We visited the well August 18th, 1860, and found the temperature 42. Yet 

 only the week previous ice was seen upon the stones, and we were even told by one of 

 the family, that a piece of ice had been drawn up the day before in the bucket. 



It will be seen on a subsequent page, that we are much indebted to J. E. Higgins, Esq., 

 of Brandon, for interesting statements concerning this well. The following facts are 

 contained in a letter from him as late as January 9th, 1861. "In the old well," he says, 

 referring to the first one dug, "there is now ice. Quite often during the month of 

 December, the ice formed so thick during the night, as to cause Twombley to send his boy 

 down to break it before they could have water. It froze over, the last of November, and 

 ice has continued there since. I tried the water by a thermometer early in November 

 and found it 38." 



These statements are quite important ; for they show us that for three successive 

 winters the ice has accumulated in this well, in apparently undiminished quantity ; and 

 thus is shown how groundless is the surmise of some, that this was a transient phenom- 

 enon perhaps the mere freezing of the gravel at the time the well was dug and that 

 probably the statements of the well-diggers was greatly exaggerated. We know that 

 some permanent source of cold exists in this well, and the facts concerning it already 

 given and those yet to be presented are confirmed, and shown to be neither imagination 

 nor exaggeration. 



In 1858, the latter part of June, we took the temperature of a well or spring, only 4 

 or 5 feet deep, 100 rods southwesterly of the frozen one, and found it to be 51. Another 

 well, 12 feet to the water, and 60 or 70 rods northeast of the frozen one, was 45. In the 

 first case the frozen deposit seems not to have exerted any influence upon the spring; 

 but the temperature of the other well is lower than springs usually are in the vicinity in 

 summer. 



