National Republican., 1882-04-08
COLD COMFORT.


leo is probably the only article under the sun
which is both q luxury and necessity. II is true
that IL Il remains under the sun any length OF
timo II loses both attributes but I'm bucket Of
water on q warm summer day or in convivial
glass on any kind Of day the cold comfort sends
a thrill of contelImept coursing through
the human franfH AnHe, which nothing
can equal. From Tho present aspect Of
affairs among the various ice companies It Is very
probable that the thrill aforesaid will cost more
money this year than II did last year. or, in fact
ever before. twill be seen that in addition to
failure Of the crop here and the difficulties sur
rounding the harvest In Mano the strike of
the miners at Cumberland serves as n check upon
the low tariff of freight rates which was in oper-
alton last year. and that from all these causes the
price will be
ADVANCED BEYOND ALL EXPECTATION.
THE REPUBLICAN man met Colonel Walter
Hawkes. the owner Of the Knickerbocker Ice
Company, yesterday morning, on Fifteenth street,
and without ceremony climbed into his red
wheeled buggy to take an interviewing tour
among the men who nll our iee.cooer. For
man engaged in cold business Colonel Hawkes.
is most genial, and on tho way 10 Georgetown the
scribe was nothing more nor less than an olon
gated difnne. The Knickerbocker Ice Componys
warehouse Is situated at Nos. 1901 TO 1881 Greene
street, Georgetown, and when the ferretof out Of
facts reached itthere was force Of men engaged In
storing away Ice from the carts, which were bring.
ing 1t from the schooner f. II. Kirk, just from Ken
nebec River with
600 TONS on BOARD
Colonel Hawkes. said he had never known such
scarcity of ice before, South of New York the crop
was total failure ana the cutting on the Kenne.
year underthat of last. Then II cost twice US much
10 cut 1t this year as It did last The most serious
onel Hawkes. is the frlghtful advance In freight
rates. The strike Of the miners at Cum:
berland makes Il impossible for the canal
boats to bring down any coal The boats which
bring ice to Georgetown depend upon getting
cargo of coal for the return trip, and now such
thing IL impossible. Consequently the freight has
been already Increased from the rate ofseventyfve
cents to 81 ton last year 10 sl5O and ", and If
the strike continues, as the mining companies ex.
pect II WILL there IS no telling
WHERE THE RATE WILL GO TO.
President Church, of the Independent Company,
said the outlook was very bad. Last year ice
could be purchased on the Rennebec for seventy
five cents per ton, and now the cutters are holding
their supply, and refuse even So per ton. Mr.
Church sCid his company were unable to make
contracts ns things were so unsettled. The strike
at Cumberland affects the complication more than
any other cause as the ce.carrying boats cannot
get return cargoes of coal, and freights are in-
creased accordingly. "Our price Is now fiity cents
per hundred last year II was twenty-five cents"
PRESIDENT VAN RTsw1cK,
OF the Great Falls Company agreed, with Messrs.
| Hawkes. and Church.. Wholesale prices are very
much unsettled. All expenses attendant upon
dealing in ice are double what they were last year,
| and fthe summer is warm the price to consumers
| will probably be 81 per hundred pounds. The
| profits Of the ice companies will be but slightly
| advanced over last year. The following are the
| prices at which the various companies are now
| selling: Fifty pounds and over at the rate of 80
! cents per hundred, twenty five pounds and under
fifty at the rate of SO cents per hundred, fifteen
| pounds 10 cents, and less than fieen pounds at
the rate of cent tper pound. JhE REPUBLICAN re-
porter also visited the old Shoemaker mill on
Water street. between Market and Frederick
streets, Georgetown where the
CRYsTALLIZED ICE MANUFACTURING COMPANY
are putting in large improvements, with view of
manufacturing ice for sale in the District. Arti-
fetal ice is produced by n complicated machinery
| Ammonia rapidly evapOrnting through serpen-
| tine conducting pipes which run through COM
partments filed with brine, abstracts the heat or
| latent heat from the non .cOngcalable fluid, and
| this coming in contact with the iron side Of the
| compartment, the outer surface OF which Is eX-
posed to the fresh water, causes the congcalation
of the water, and ice Is made of any thickness re-
| quired. One tank containing twenty boxes made
| upon the above principle is already in working
| order, and three others of the same capacity are
| being made. Each box or plate is sixteen feet
| long by eight feet deep, and upon each one OF
these plates
| CAKE OF ICE Is FROZEN,
oflike dimensions and from ten to eighteen inches
thick. Mr. David Smith, the superintendent and
manager of the company, explained the workings
in full operation by May !. The capacity of the
| establishment, when everything Is finished will
be fifty tons per day. Mr.. Smith said ice dealers
| claim that ice cannot be manufactured here as
Cheaply os It could be shipped from Maine but he
| was sure il could, and that the company have in
vested 900 in the purchase and Improvement
Of ne properly From re hennsSee aG RsGoWyI o.
ingOn companies have harvested the following
numbers Of tons on Maine rivers: Great Falls Com
pany, 2S,0OO Independent, 10000, and Kicker
Philadelphia, harvested the enormous amount O
| $4,000 tons.