The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-06-03 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN ICE TRADE.

(From the London Mercantile Gazette.)
In America, where the extreme cold of the winter fur-
nishes the ice in great abundance and perfection, and the
excessive heat of summer renders the necessity for its use
proportionately great, the trade in it has acquired an im-
portance which, not long since, would have seemed im-
possible. In different districts of the country, large and
pure lakes have almost the value which here attaches to
mines ; and companies with large capital are formed, who
purchase them as one might purchase a coal-mine, to rob
them periodically of their crystal treasures, for the sum-
mer supply of the public. One of the lakes which has
been purchased for this object, is situated so near the sea-
board, that its proprietors have, within the last few years,
hit upon the novel plan of making the product of their
lake an article of export, for the supply of those regions
where the heat of a tropical summer makes its cooling pro-
perties not only acceptable and refreshing, but highly sa-
lubrious. Thousands of tons of this arctic crystal are
now annually shipped from Boston (United States) to our
East Indies, to the West Indian Archipelago, and to the
continent of South America. Not content with these ex-
tended fields of consumption, the indomitable persever-
ance of these Yankee trespassers on the dominions of
King Frost, has induced them to throw their merchandise
into the English market; and after one or two indivi-
dual, and but partially successful attempts to introduce it
here of late years, " The Wenham Lake Ice Company "
have taken up the matter in earnest—erected extensive
ice-houses here and at Liverpool, and arranged for the
transportation to this country of thousands of tons of ice.
One surprising circumstance connected with the trade
is the fact that their ice, though transported to this coun-
try in the heat of summer, is not reduced in bulk. Those
engaged in the trade we find, account for this by the fact
that the masses of ice are so large, that they expose a very
small surface to the atmospheric action in proportion to
their weight, and therefore do not suffer from their expo-
sure to it, as the smaller and thinner fragments do, which
are obtained in our own or other warmer climates. It
appears, also, that ice frozen upon very deep water, is
more hard and solid than ice of the same thickness ob-
tained from shallow water; and even when an equal sur-
face is exposed, melts more slowly.
The Wenharo Lake occupies a very elevated position,
arid lies embosomed in hills of majestic height and bold
rugged character. The lake has no inlet whatever ; but
is fed solely by the springs which issue from the rocks at
its bottom, a depth of 200 feet from its surface. This
vast depth readily explains the great solidity of the ice
formed upon the lake.
The ice-house is built of wood, with double walls all
around; the space between which is filled with sawdust ;
thus interposing a medium, that is a non-conductor of
beat, between the ice and the external air; the conse-
quence of which is, that the ice is entirely unaffected by
any condition or temperature of the external atmosphere ;
and can be preserved without waste for an indefinite
time.

The machinery employed for cutting the ice is very
curious, and is worked by men and horses in the follow--
ing manner :—From the time when the ice first forms, it
is carefully keet free from snow until it is thick enough to
be cut ; that process commences when the ice is a foot
thick. A surface of some two acres is tben selected,
which at that thickness will furnish about 2000 tons ; and
a straight line is then drawn through its centre from side
to side each way. A small hand-plough is pushed along
one of these lines, until the groove is about three inches
deep, and a quarter of an inch in width, when the
" Marker " is introduced. This implement is drawn by
two horses, and makes two new grooves parallell with the
first, 21 inches apart, the guage remaining in the original
groove. The marker is then shifted to the outside groove,
rnd makes two more. Having drawn these lines over the
whole surface in one direction, the same process is re-
peated in a transverse direction, marking all the ice out
into squares of 21 inches. In the meantime the " plough"
drawn by a single horse, is following in these grooves,
cutting the ice to a depth of six inches.
One entire range of blocks is then sawn out, and the
remainder are split off toward the opening thus made with
an iron bar. This bar is shaped like a spade and of a
wedge-like firm. When it is dropped into the groove,
the block splits off; a very slight blow being sufficient
to produce that effect, especially in very cold weather.
The labour of " splitting. is light or otherwise, accord-
ing to the temperature of the atmosphere. " Platforms,"
or low tables of frame-work, are placed near the opening
made in the ice, with iron sides extending into the water,
and a man stands on each side of this slide, armed with
an ice-book. With this hook the ice is caught and by a
sudden jerk thrown up the " slide" on to the "platform."
In a cold day everything is speedily covered with ice by
the freezing of the water on the platforms, slides, &c ,
and the ecormous blocks of ice, weighing some of them
more than two cwt., are burled along these slippery sur-
faces, as if they were without weight.
Forty men and twelve horses will cut and stow away

400 tons a day ! in favourable weather 100 men are some-
times employed at once. When a thaw or a fall of rain
occurs, it entirely unfits the ice for market, by rendering
it opaque and porous, and occasionally snow is immedi-
ately followed by rain, and that again by frost, forming
snow-ice, which is valueless, and must be removed by the
"plane." The operation of planing is similar to that of
cutting.
_ .

In addition to filling their ice-houses at the lake and in
the large towns, the company fill a large number of private
ice-houses during the winter—all the ice for these pur-
poses being transported by railway. It will easily be be-
lieved, that the expense of providing tools, buildieg
houses, furnishing labour, and constructing and keeping
up the railway, is very great; but the traffic is so exten-
sive, and the management of the trade so good, that the
ice can be furnished, even in England, at a very trifling
cost.

People in this country, have, however, yet to learn the
various uses to which ice may be applied, as well as the
best methods of preserving it. In America every family
has a " Refrigerator," or portable ice-house.