Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-06-27

of them very elegant in appearance and
inside arrangement. Prices here as well as
in other Southern places are so to 100 per
cent. higher than in the North.
We visited the U. S. Mint building, fine
substantial structure. 1t has not been used
for coming since 1861, although the machin-
cry still stands there, and Superintendent
and few watchmen are left to take care of it..
part is also used for the L. S. Assistant
Treasurers office. Immediately in front of
this building General Butler hung Monroe for
pulling down the United States flag.
In Jackson Square near there stands the
famous equestrian statue of the hero of the
words 1.-The Union must and shall be preserv-
ed" which even rebels have allowed to re-
main untouched upon the base
On Canal street is another statue almost
as famous-that of Henry Clay-with his
words of prophetic warning to his country in
regard to the cause of human slavery. This
inscription was also allowed to remain by the
rebels Both of these statues are of bronze
and of colossal size.
We rode out to Lake Pontchartrain over the
famous Shell road, macadamied with oyster
shells, and were surprised to find it in very
poor repair, so that in several places the
water was foot or more deep in the carriage
track. At the end of the road on the border
of thelLake are several fine French restaurants
and band of music dscourses melody in a
Teutonic refreshment saloon. On our way
back we stopped at one of the cemeteries,
which are strange in appearance, being sur
rounded by a series of oven shaped compart-
ments, rising in three or four tiers. The
openings are of course within the cemetery,
and here it is that the poorer class of people
place their dead The coffin is slid in and
the mouth bricked up. In about twelve
months nothing remains of the body except
the bones, and often times the same COM
partment is twice and even thrice used for
the burial of bodies. We saw cut on the slab
covering the entrance to one of these places
three names. Very poor people are some
times buried in the ground, literally in a
''watery grave" as the soil is full of water.
and vaults in this cemetery which l believe
is called the Firemans.
The most remarkable place we visited was
the Ice Factory, where seventy-five tons Of
pure, clean ice are made every twenty-four
hours. The Superintendent of the works
was away, so we did not get the benefit of his
| information as to the process of manufacture,
but understand that it is substantially as
follows: The water is pumped up into large
| cisterns of wood and there allowed to settle
| and filter for one OF two days. Then it is
| distilled into watts. From these watts it is
drawn off into smaller ones near the machine
where it is formed into ice. Tin moulds about
| two feet long, foot wide and four inches
| thick are filled with this distilled water and
| immersed in watts of brine, through which
ammonia is forced. The ammonia frees itself
| from the salt water and ascends through pipes
in the form of gas and is saved and used over
and over again. BY this process the water
in the tins becomes in short time solid
cake of ice, weighing about twenty pounds.
Five of these cakes are laid away and frozen
together, and the ice is then ready for mar
ket. 1t is sold for a small fraction below the
price of northern ice; but the manufacturers
say that it is even superior to Boston and
Maine ice in solidity. We hardly credit that
though it is undoubtedly of very superior
| quality. About a quarter of the city of New
| Orleans is supplied by this factory. 1t is run
| night and day, and the company contemplate
| adding to their works so as to turn out much
greater supply. During yellow fever times
ice sometimes runs up to ten and even as high
as twenty-five cents pound, and we were in
formed that once it was sold for dollar a
pound, the dealers taking advantage of the
necessities of the people.
| But enough for this letter, next week !
will try and give you history of our trip ur
the Mississippi River. CLAIMING.