Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-01-23
THE PENOBsCoT ICE CROP.

| As much Of The ice used in this vicinity
; comes from Maine, 1be following from the
Bangor Industriat Journal is published
The ice used il: tins city comes from the
kennebec
ut will be remembered hat on Saturday
evening JANUARY 81 az u: stOrehuil-c stu
ted on Eagle wnn,t, Daugor, was burned,
aud that 8 report wa niaiH culreut at the
time that all The ice III tiIe river had been
auoiied BY kerc$enn winch ran overheard
from tho fire. THIS leparD was circulated
near aud far and creatc,! n;uch excitement
al the time, for those Interested in the ice
| trade, while perfectly well aware that tho
crop was unframed, ieil TINT the market
might ne Affected by credeucc cf the rumor.
| Those who circulated the report were per
sons sho knew little or ncthtug Of such
| matters; no practical man ever advanced
such an idea.
The Penohscot carries the largest volume
Of water Of any Of the New England rivers
havrg its source away back in the wilder
ness near the Canada line, and vast reser-
voirs of supply III Il chain OF large lakes.
There are no great cities on its banks, drain
ing oil poisonous sewage, aud the manu-
fac,ures are principally those OF lumber; so
when at Bangor the water flows twelve to
twenty-five feet deep, at low tide, end halt
a mile wide, it is perfectly pure and Of such
volume as TO be entirely unaffected by ordi-
uary polIutons. 1t is TACT we'll known
that ice purilies itself in making, and hence
the Penobscot crop is Of exceptionally good
quality. Thus it will be seen that had every
drop of the oil in the burned warehouse gone
into the river, the ice fields, even under oldi-
cirptlr sta q n
iured But thecircumstances were extraor-
iiuary The weather was at the time Of
the fire. and has been ever since, very mild,
with heavy rains, which diminished the ice
from or 10 inches il thickness 10 ) or &
in hes. As kerosene oil will not freeze ex-
capt in very cold weather, and will not min
gle with wafer, it is impossible, under the
conditions described. that there should be
any Of it in peDohscot ice, especially as the
fields are located from half g mile to two
miles from where the oil fire took place, and
the current in the river is very strong.
Ii is not nosiljyely known that single
barrel Of oil did run out into the river; the
greater part certainly burned up or ran
about on the wharf But TO remove all
doubts on the subject, a series Of interesting
experiments were made upon blocks of ice
taken from various fields near where the
fire occurred 1t was demonstrated that a
block of ice, after being immersed fer hours
in a barrel Of kerosene and then rinsed,
gave no taste or smell of oil: that oil and
water stirred up together in the same dish,
and left out over night, appeared i'll the
morning as a cake cfpure ice with the oil
on top, and, in short, that it would be en-.
tirelv impossible that the Penobscot ice
fields could be injured by the quantity, if
anv, of kerosene that ran overheard at the
late fire. The ice in the river now is about
inches thick, and seven miles in extent up
and down. II is the clearcst ice seen here
for years, and there is at this writing Jan.
| 14th) not flake of snow on it. Its purity
has been proven by experts, and the dealers
are preparing to harvest large crop if the
| weather ever becomes cold enough to in
crease the thickness sufficiently.