Picture of the inside of the Woolly Mammoth Ice Cave. 

As you walk into the doors of the ice cave where they keep the Woolly Mammoth, the walls are lined with ice bricks.  I don't know why they did this and if anyone know, please send me a letter at the bottom of this page. 

These ice blocks must have to be replaced on a regular basis because of sublimation.  As I looked into a room next to the blocks, there were new blocks being cut out.  With no wind and the constant low temperatures, these ice blocks may last quite a while.  The ice must have been harvested from the Khatanga river as it froze over.   Also, this may have been a way to stabilize the temperatures of the ice cave throughout the summer.

When I was a kid, there was a lake that I used to ice skate on near my house.  I was talking to my mom, who was born in 1916 and she said that this lake was used for ice harvesting.  The ice was cut into blocks and stored in a barn like building which was insulated with bales of straw.  Then throughout the summer, the ice man would bring ice to homes in the city for the old Ice Boxes.   I'm sure that you've see the old movies that showed the ice man carrying ice to the houses.