 On a nice warm day like today, doesn't it feel nice to pull an ice cold drink out of the cooler? Can you imagine how hot and dusty it would have been for the settlers crossing the country in their covered wagons? They could only dream of such a luxury until they came upon ice slew. Ice slew is a marshy area that is a tributary to the Sweetwater River. The surface is covered by grasses, sedges, other plants, and organic matter. Water flows beneath this layer and freezes in the winter. This top layer of organic matter insulates the ice as the weather warms just as the cooler keeps its contents cold. Ice slew was a welcome stop for travelers in the spring and early summer. If they dug into the ground, they would find clear, solid ice. They would dig out big blocks of ice using them to cool their drinks and even storing ice in their water barrels to provide cold water for miles to come. Unfortunately, we won't be able to dig down and find very much ice in ice slew anymore. Much of the water has been diverted for irrigation, leaving ice slew almost dry. Thank goodness for modern conveniences to keep me cool. From the University of Wyoming Extension, I'm Mae Smith, Exploring the Nature of Wyoming.