NEW HAMPSHIRE ICE CAVERN

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Ice Cavern, White Mountains, New Hampshire, USA
London Stereoscopic Company, North American Series
Circa 1860

The back of the mount, showing the London Stereoscopic Company eagle, used for the North American Series, and giving an explanation of how ice caverns are formed.

"This group of mountains occupy a considerable portion of the State of New Hampshire, and abound with the most attractive scenery, among which the ice caverns present a very striking feature: peculiar as they are to the winter season only, their form and beauty gradually disappearing as summer approaches.The roofs of these caverns are, in most cases, formed of the trucks of trees, which, falling across some small ravine,where the wandering waters of a mountain rivulet form a jutting cascade: the rains and the spray from the fountains then accumulate and freeze upon them, layer upon layer, until in time a sucession of sparry icicles is formed, resembling stalactites in form and general appearance.  The sides of the rocks also are soon covered and every projecting point becomes the repository of some quaint figure.  As the winter advances so these icicles increase, until they almost entirely build themselves in. The effect of the sunlight upon them is unsurpassed, each little crystal reflecting back the rays like a bright spark, and the whole a succession of prismatic rays of unsurpassed beauty."