Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-12-21
the ICE HARVEST.
How the crop 10 0s,bered. Handled
aud stored.
r,,,k,, R,puJliean, December Is.

Treke, Republican, December Is.
The Summit and Boca ice companies
ara now gathering aud storing their an
nual ice crop. The Summit Company
have two large houses ON Prosser creek.
with n storing capacity Of 10000 tons.
Their ice pond covers tbirty.siI acres.
The mode OF cutting out the ice and
storing il, at Prosser creek. is thus de-
scribed: The ice on the pond is marked
into squares OF twenty-five inches each,
which is done my means OF q gauge
shaped very much the same as an Ice
pillow, except that the blades are smaller
and shorter. When it 10 marked of,
the next step is to pillow IL. Tbs pillow
used for this purpose consists OF ivs or
six thin, sharp. chissl.pointed blades
set one after the other in the beam.
Every pillow has q gauge attached to 1t.
which runs in the mark already made by
the marker. The plows cut the ice to
the depth Of about n foot. After 1t
has been marked and plowed one way. 1t
is marked and plowed at right angles
with the first. The Company uses six
horses for the purpose Of blowing. etc.
After it il plowed. the ice IL cut loose
from the edges by means OF hand.ssws.
then it is broken apart aud the squares
are started ON their journey for the ice.
house. Stationed at short intervals are
men whose duty il is to keep the ice
moving by pushing 1t along.
On reaching the dam 1t 10 taken out Of
the water and placed on an incline tram.
way, or rather chute. and is started
| down to the house. This incline has On
angle Of about thirty degrees. down
which the cakes shoot with almost light.
nine.like rapidity. When 1t reaches the
level surface OF the floor 1t is kept in
motion by men standing on either side
with poles in their hands. who give 1t an
occasional push till it reaches its des-
tinalion. when IL 10 Immediately seized
by one or two men with their pixies and
set up on edge against that which is al.
ready there. The advantages oil setting
it up on edge are many; among others
being that, no matter how much the ice
varies in thickness. it always leaves a
level surface. aud when they want to use
il it blocks out much more readily than
il does by laying it down fiat. The
ice at this place was about fourteen
inches thick. Each block. 22x22 inches.
Ia inches thick. weighs 225 pounds.
With the facilities this company have
for handling. it can run from the pond
and put up in the house from forty tc
forty tive cakes per minute. The Sum
nit Company has by far the best fscili'
ties for handling ice with ease, rapidly
and economy. At the present time 1t II
employing from seventy to eighty met
at two dollars per day and board, ant
six horses in its work. The daily eI'
penses are S2l0. This company intend,
to put up S0O0 ton OF new ice this year
Up to Saturday night they had put "
5000 tons, and had been packing two
and one-hsli Gays. The Bocs Company
pond and stor.-houss 10 one and one
half miles below the Summit Company
on Prosser creek. and their plan Of stor
ing ice is nearly similar. Thirty mer
are employed. and three tons OF ice pei
minute can be fosted from tho pond
This company has been in the business
since 1869.