Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1850-02-02
THE ICE TRADE.
OR, WHAT ENTERPRISE AND PERSEVERANCE
WILL DO.


The business Of exporting ice from the
United States is said to have been commen-
ced in 1905, by Mr.. Tudor of Boston,
who made shipment of the article from
Saugus, little village near that city, to the
Island of Martinique, and suffered a loss OF
S4,oOO. He continued his operations un-
til 1913 with varied success, until he made
contract with the Government of Cuba,
which proved profitable. In 1917 he ex-
tended the trade TO Charleston, next to Sa-
vannah, and in 1920 to New Orleans. In
May 1888, his operations extended to Cal.
cutta by shipment in the ship Tuscany,
which was the first ever made to Calcutta,
and the foundation Of now very profitable
and extended business. The increase in
the trade was small, the shipments reaching
in 1882 only 1882 tons, all shipped by
Mr.. Tudor. The objections Of ship-ownA
ers to take ice, and the want of intorma-
tlon as to the best means of packing it, SO
as to preserve it, kept the trade small, but
perseverance and ingenuity soon removed
all obstacles, and in 1S47 the shipments
coastwise from Boston alone, reached 5I,-
8S7 tons, forming part of the cargoes of 40
ships, SO barques, 45 brigs, and 125 schoon-
ers, with foreign export of 22,591 tons,
in 81 ships, "a bargucs, 80 briggs and IL
schooners, in all AIS tons
PLACES TO WHICH ICE GOES.
The coastwise shipments are 10 all the sea-
ports, from Philadelphia 10 Galveston,
Texas while the foreign market includes,
besides the West Indies and the West Coast
of South America, Mauritius, Isle of Bour-
bon, Manila, Calcutta, Madras, Bombay,
Ceylon, Hong Kong, Whampa, Batavia
and Liverpool.
fRoFtTs OF THE ICE TRADE.
The freight of this trade i. perhaps
greater than any other in the world, mas
much as the article shipped is OF no value,
except that which is incident to labor and
machinery. The freight paid on the a.
AIS tons shipped IN lS47 from Boston, is
estimated at So 30 per ton, or S1S6,l95,
and the value of the ice 81 per ton, Sl46,~
956. The ice used in packing cargoes of
perishable merchandise, which would not
have been preserved without ice, is valued
at S72,5O0. To all this may be added
100000, for profits TO those engaged in
the Ice trade, and we have return to the
country of S507,651.
PACKING ICE.
The ice is packed in Sar-duSt, (another
seemingly verv useless materially The
quantity brought to Boston from saw mills
in the state of Maine, in the year 1S47, for
ice-packing purposes, would equal 1900
cords of solid wood, valued at 3? 90 per
cord
PRICE OF ICE.
The price at which ice is sold to the con-
sumer varies very much. At Havana,
where it is monopoly, it costs 81 cents
per pound at New Orleans to 3 cents,
which has stimulated the consumption to
$4,000 tons in l847, against 1910 in 1882.
AT Calcutta the price has not been over 6
cents, and is now q cents. The consump-
ton of ice in Boston and vicinity for lS47
was 81 600 tons, costing the consumer S72, :
500, and yielding profit to seven houses
which supply the market of SlS,l35.-
The capacity OF the Storehouses for ice was
in lS47 equal TO 141 ,332 tons, exclusive
of those at Charleston and East Boston
where temporary deposits are made.
SEASON AND MODE OF GETTING ICE.
The season for gathering ice is very
short, not over twenty days in good sea-
son, when the ponds have the active ap-
pearance of a harvest field. In 1917,
about $3.50 was paid daily for the services
of men, and $3.50 for that of horses en-
ploved to secure the crop. In the infancy
of the trade, common agricultural imple-
ments were used to gather the ice, but the
progress OF the trade has brought into use
machines as nicely adapted to the Ice as
the spinning machines are for COTTON
Horsepower and machinery is now used tc
scrape the accumulatlons Of snow from the
tops of the ponds, to allow the ice to freeze
thick and solid. Machinery is also used tC
cut it into blocks, to draw it TO the ice
house, and TO stow it when there.
WHAT ICE ENABLES Us TO DO.
Among the shipments from New York
in September last, as an experiment, were
a basket of peaches packed in ice. They
were as fresh and as highly favored wher
they reached London as when they lei
New York and this little experiment, WI
predict, will prove the beginning of a trade
by which American fruit will be sold a
readily in Paris and London as at home
Honor to the ''univeFsal Yankee nation,
who commenced and pushed this enter
prize 10 its present profit and success.
MORE GOLD RoBBERIEs.- Another robbery
of gold dust TO the value of $4,000 has laker
place on one of the Pacific steamers, and nc
clue to the metal is yet obtained. On tho
lsthmus, at Gorgona, another robbery tool
place. The dust amounted to SO, 900 in value
and was the property of two laboring men
1t was stolen from them while they were
asleep. ---. ...s
Il