St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-03-26

We have heard of eight companies en-
gagged il this work at this place, including
Central Point; and. three at other locations
upon the Leke. And We are informed
that that they will cut not far from six
thousand: tons each. Hence We may esti-
mate the ice-harvest Of the year on Lake
Pepin at not below sixty thousand tons !!
Here tits gathered at less than dollar
ton to some that have unusual facilities
it will not cost over fifty cents 1t must
pay we'll, Notwithstanding high charges for
freight, loss by melting, g. The gov
ernment- will pay for it at the hospitals,
according to contract, twenty dollars ton
The: most serious obstacle to the putting
up Of the ice this winter, we. learn, i
limited supply o., the lumber necessary 70:
Ihe buildings. With the immense resour-
ces within our State, this need not occur
second time to those who will make their
plans ia time. .: Ard should, next spring,
the freight charges be excessive by steam.
ers, it may be carried away by "arks" or
"broadhorns," as is often done upon the
the. Ohio and Allegheny Rivera.
The way they do it down there is thus
The blocks are cut either BY p!oughs Or
saws into regular parallelograms, consist
ing Of two squares of ntyinches; that
is, they are made twcnty.six inches broad
and 6fty:two inches long, for convenience
in storing. Near the shore the field Of. ice
is, this winter, about twenty-five inches or
two feet thick; which is several inches
thinner than our ordinary winters produce.
The weight Of such block: Cat sixty lba.
to the cubic foot,) is about half : ton.
These blocks, be tells US, are slid by
railways to the icc-houses on the shore.-
He thus elequently disoourses on the
translucent purity Of Lake Pcrin ioe:
The transparency Of this ice ID ts5ond
all that We could have believed. No glass,
no chrystal, no diamond, not the regal
Koh-in-noor, could exhibit such absolute
perfection Of purity as it does. The Won
derful olearness Of our atmosphere, tho
regularity of our winters, the history Of
the great river that drains its living cur
rent from ten Thousand sweet prairies or
undisturbed forests of the North, aud af:
ter career of hundreds of miles expands
itself and rests in this lovely sheet Of wa
ter, before it starts again in itslong course
against the Gulf. all concentrate their ev-
idence in these masses Of ice:+ It reminds
us of the armament as the color of tho
terrible chrystal stretched above the throne,
that in the vision Of the prophet Ezekiel
was the symbol IF the justice of God or
the sea Of glass like unto chrystal that
was before the throne, which the beloved
disciple saw. T.,
~ When these blocks were half drawn out
of the water one could not distinguish the
outlines Of tho part that remained beneath
the surface. And, almost incredible to tell,
when We laid newspaper against one Of
the blocks without any transverse seams.
We could read With ease the ordinary small
print, through the moro than two feet of:
intervening substance. What was still
more wonderful, We could read the COM
mon headings Of the articles, IN q little
larger type, through the entire length,'
that is, through solid mas Of four feet
and a third! A comparison may be ohal.
lenged With any other known substance.
or vith:iee in spy other part Of tho world.