Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-09-15
ICE.

If we trace the history OF Ice and snow a!
applied to the wants of mankind to early pc
riods, we find that both were utilized in the
East at very ancient date. The manufac
ture of artificial ice was known, we are told
to the Greeks and Romans. The custom o.
cooling beverages with saltpetre was genera
in Italy in the sixteenth century. In the
seventeenth century "ice cups" were intro
duced into France and Spain. A method o.
producing ice by chemical means was invent
ed by Mr.. Walker in 1882. Leslie intro
duced the employment of sulphuric acid for
the same purpose, in 1910. Harrison invent
ed an ice.making machine, in which ether
and salt were used, in 1857. The ice trade
of this country was first introduced by Mr.
Tudor, of Boston, in 1906.
1t is said that in many portions of Asia
the snow was in early times gathered in sacks
far up in the mountains, and transported to
the principal cities on the backs Of mules
and there preserved in cavities sunk in the
ground, carefully packed in layers of straw.
Frederick Tudor, a wealthy citizen of
Boston, largely engaged in salt works at Ma
hant; about the beginning of the present cen.
tury, conceived the project of the shipment Of
ice to the West Indies, in 1905, at which time
the yellow.fever was prevalent there; and
his scheme was considered about as ludicrous
by his towns. people, as was that Of Lord Tim
othy Dexter, who shipped to the same locality
cargo of warming pans. As to the success
of both these ventures, history has chronicled
the happy results which attended the enter
prises, and Tudor is credited with the pio
neership Of an important commercial industry
to the country. In the winter of 1905 Tudor
harvested a crop of ice from small pond
near Boston, amounting to about three hun.
dred tons, which he conveyed by teams to
Charlestown, where he loaded the brig Fa-
vorite with his novel freight and sailed with
it to the island of Martinique, where the article
was received with manifestations Of surprise
and ncredulity by the inhabitants. Its ben
e6cal advantages, however, we're soon de.
monstrated, and in due time additional ship:
ments amply paid the enterprising person,
who became to be regarded as benefactor,
while pro6ting by his speculation.
The British Government was the first to ap.
preciate the advantages likely to accrue to
colonists from the introduction of ice, and
ten years after Mr.. Tudor's first shipment, or
shortly after the close of the war Of 1872, he
received overtures that were very favorable
toward the development Of the industry.
The first was a grant of monopoly OF the
trade upon conditions which he at once en-
braced. The second was the release of Ger.
tain port dues (then very heavy) to all ships
bringing ice.
The first regular cargo was shipped to
Charleston, S. c., in the summer Of 1877.
That city was then the most important COM
mercial port in the Southern States. In
1918, Mr.. Tudor established a branch of the
trade in Savannah, rival at that time of
Charleston and, in 1920, he established ice
houses in New Orleans, which city, thirty
years later, became the greatest consuming
city in the United States south of Philadel-
phia. 1t is remarkable fact that at this
time, and for some little time later, the ice
trade was confined mainly to foreign export
and the supply of the Southern States, while
the localities in the vicinity of the sources
of supply in the Northern States were slow to
adopt the new commodity. At the present
time ice is regarded more as an article of
staple use throughout the year than one of
mere luxury. There are delivered and con-
sumed in New York city alone, during the
winter months, more tons Of ice than were
cut, shipped and consumed in the United
States in an entire year thirty years ago.