Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-01-09
A HEAVY BLOW
To This Years Ice Industry on The Ken
nebec.
A Mass of Dirty Broken Ice in The
River.
The Probable Loss Several Hundred
Thousand Dollars.

will be impossible to harvest any more than a
Small Percentage
OF the usual quantity. From Norton's houses
to the foot Of Swan Island to Gardiner the
river is covered with mass of broken, irreeu-
lar ice filled with debris and oftentines MANY
feet thick; and almost every foot Of it is un-
fit for housing purposes. l. il generally
found in cakrs from two to four feet square,
that below Berry's At the camp ground be.
ing old ice, and that above new, which
formed in the shape of anca1r ice and floated
down since the tbaw.
The ice operators believed they had a first
class freeze previous 10 the warm
weather and many bad already commenced
scraping. The ice men at Richmond had ex-
pended over $1,000 in preparing their f-lds.
About December lsr, running ice
had commenced to flow in the river and i,
threatened u seriously damage the fields
Immediately above Swan Island Accord
ingly two p0werfuI tugs were employed
and for tweutv-seyen davs ice-hOuse
owners and crews of men worked almost in
ressantly 10 keep the river clear, two power
full tugs being pressed into the servic. Night
fourd them AT their post. cutting and break
ing the Uniformed ice so that it would flow
down into the bay. Haynes & Dewitt at
Iceboro did not touch their fields at that time,
being well sa'i' fed with their freeze.
About week sgo the field. IN the vicinity
of Swan leland cuHgeal,d in a satisfactory
manner Bot the thaw came, spring weather
prevailed, and a mid-winter frcshpt was the
result The river overfiowed its banks the ice
broke up. and driftwood, ice, and all came
surging down from Skow hogan to swans
Island. At , O'clock " elaesday aftc.aoon
the ice started IN the river on the western
side of Swan Island and flowed down into
Merrymeetrg Bay, but at 3 O'Clock Thursday
morning it formed am near the lower end
OF the Island and tor five miles below Rich
mond add several above piled in, ottentimes
many feet in thickness, and in a rough and
tumble manner. At this time it was believed
that if tugs and men had been in readiness it
would have been possible t. keep the mass
moving. But there was no one at hand TO
attend to it. Thursday evening
the water was comparatively clear
above Berry,, but the low temperature OF the
night formed anchor ice very rapidly on
the surface of the lev water, and float
ing down river in big cakes, 1t began
to accumulate with great rapidly and
at 10 o'clock yesterday forenoon it had
filled in to a point mile and a half
below Gardiner, doing great injury to the
fields there which were expected to feed the
houses the coming winter. Nothing was to
be seen to the spectator passing along in the
train, but the white and broken surface Of
this bad ice.
So serious had become the state of affairs
| and 1t being evident that operations on the
river wnnlA be hrrrht to a standstill the
present wlnte', there .sIs
Meeiias e zee Operators
at Richmond VI stvr,liy t. consider the mat.
ter and if possibility to devise some means
to clear out the mess which had worked so
much injury. Among those present were
Mr.. Jeremiah Russell, Capt Theobald, Mr.
Ansel Blanchard, Capt. Frank Blanchard
Capt Eugene Call, Edmund Curran, Mr..
Andrew Province. all of Richmond Capt.
Abram Rich, Farmingdale; Hon. Geo. f
Weeks, Augusta; Fred Berry, Gatdi-
ner; Capt. Barker, Dresden; Mr. Geo. w
Lawrence, Augusta They viewed the con-
dtion of things and talked the matter over
They wore long faces ana were evidently
not elated at the prospect. 1t indeed a
hard look and there were reasons for dis
couragement. Ii was thought that there was
some show to rid the river of the obnoxious
ice by running it down through Lpvajoy's
Narrows on the east branch, and a party in
Guiding Messrs Weeks and Lawrence of this
city. walked several miles across S,se Is
land to Reeds lRock, so called on the east side
of the Island, with the expectation of meet
ing tug there which was coming up
from Bath to break out the ice
but no boat put in an appearance and the
party footed it back to Richmond about con-
WINGED that all attempts to remove the ice
would be futile. Reports that 80 men were
employed in breaking the jam with dynamite
were false altht ugh there was much talk of
explosions and several dispatches were sent
relative to obtaining a supply of dynamite.
'Our only salvation, said one ic4 king, lis a
thaw at an early dav Then we might be able
TO rid the river of this miserable stuff 1--WE
will get some bait and go fishing all winter, -
remarked second, and still another thought he
could set bv the fire all winter and toast his
feet, The feeling at Richmond yesterday over
the event was quite intense. Two-ihirds of the
inhahiants of that place depend directly or
indirectly on tn ice industry and the outlook
is blue one fol them. at is bread and
butter question with u.s., said a stawart
laboring man in serious manner. Groups
of men were congregated on the street cor
ners and in the stores eagerly discussing the
situation, and endeavoring to devise some
means to destroy The ice. One suggested
that il be
Thawed Out with Boiling Water.
Even if it he broken up those interested were
in qusndarv to determine where 1t would
go to. II was decided that there was no room
for it in the bay 1t was stated that 1000 men
were ready to give their sevices and time TO
aid in clearing out the jam.
Last night it appeared as though Richs
field at Fsrmingdsle and the others
above Brown Island would freeze clear.
Operators between Gardiner and So. Gardi-
ncr are in hopes they may obtain some good
ice. The cakes which have fioated down are
very thin, and possibly can be scraped.
Cochrsne & Oilers field is entirely ruined,
said an ice man, yesterday Several con-
Germs have employed crews of men to protect
sheltered spots, so that they might get some
good ice. Nortons prospect for a good
FIRE re at the south end Of Swan Island. is
flatterng One of the leading ice operators
told us last night that he still had strong
hopes of breaking the jam.