The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-03-12
HARVESTING ICE
An Industry of This Century--How the
Crystal Cakes Are Gathered.

Crystal Cakes Are Gathered.
The gathering and storing of ice. is a
Yankee invention 1t was Frederick Tudor
who thought OF it, AMI could he have
known at he Same time the amount of high
way rob cry in the shape os everlasting ice
bills he was brin ring our molern eiylli-
Zaticn he likely would have buried the
idea at once; or had he known the amount
of thi, pressed material that is consumed
annually over the bars of our land or in the
deadly ice cream, his name would be ass J
ciated with that of the inventor of whisky
itself in the memories of our people. BIT
the inventor believed he was devising a
scheme that would be a boon to. mankind,
and taking a in all, maybe it has. His en-
deavor 10 d-velop his enterprise was met
with Obstacles of every kind, of which
the following is a trief summary: Begin
ming in the smallest and most modest man.
ner in the winter of 1905 he gathered ice
from Fresl Pond, lake near Cambridge,
Mass, improy ising implements that would
amuse modern iceman to look upon But
ice cream had not yet Leen invented, the de-
mani for the novel product was small, few
became attracted by the new business, and
Mr.. Tudor continued to monopolize the ice
trade for twentySeven years. Then, In
1882, the grand ice total gathered amounted
to 4, 352 tons, which is now exceeded by
some private ice houses. But as will be
seen. even this small stock proved an
ample supply to satisfy both the local
and foreign trade Just about this time
Mr.. Tudor became impressed with the feasi-
biity of shipping ice to tropical ports. He
tried to find a vessel to carry his crystallized
product lut ship owners demurred They
feared rapid melting on the way would en-
danger the vessels safety, the protective
properties of hay, sawdust, etc, being then
imperfectly understood. Undaunted by
this, however. he purchased an old brig
which he hastily refitted, loaded with ice,
stepped on board himself and sailed for
Havana Without stopping to recount the
details of a somewhat eventful voyage, ex-
cept to note the heavy loss by melting, it
muGt be observed that Tudor's safe arrival at
Havana only brought him new tribulation
for time He knew the people had never
seen ice and knew nothing about it, and heck
pee ed to be obliged to teach them its u'es-
But he found they were afraid of it, Thus
while the remnant OF his pershable cargo
was rapidly running away into the hold OF
his old brig he labored lngeniously and in
cessantIy to create demand for it. He put
pitche of ice water on the hotel bars, pay
ing for the privilege, but charging nothing
for the cooling beverage The natives tasted
it cautiously and quickly spit it out at first
but at length finding it harmless they began
to drink it freely. Then Mr.. Tudor took
away the free pitchers and opened shop
where he sold the ice, charging only small
sum at first His first cargo was thus of lit
tie direct pecuniary profit but it made
foreign demand for ice, and subsequent
cargoes brought handsome returns.
He afterward secured large contract
from the British government to furnish ice
for the army at Calcutta, the paper bearing
the roval signature of Queen Victoria This
lie held for several years, making large sums
of money thereby. The ice business was
then developing slowly. and in 1s47 about
Is 600 tons we're shipped from the port of
B ton, nearly all having been gathered
tr, m the ponds and lakes in the vicinity of
th ritv. Soon after that the business in
CT. a+ed more rapidly; new uses AMI adapta
ticns of ice became apparent until to-day
i. is one of the permanent profitable indus
tries
MARKING AND FLOWING THE ICE FIELD.
The present method of ice harvesting is
the same the country over, but as it takes
place i'll the most severe OF weather and in
regions necessarily remote from populated
interesting. In the first place, practical ice
men elect the ice field, and with a straight
edge and square mark off two lines at per-
feet right angles TO each other, on two sides
of the field Then marker drawn by
horse, as shown in the illustration, is run
straight across the pond, one side having
sharp cutting irons the other simple guide
bars that run in the grooves made by
the cutters at the previous cut. These
grooves are then intersected at right angles
in the same way, 22x36 inches and about an
inch deep. Then follows an ice plow, hav-
ing deeper b'ade with a series of chisel
po Mt. This sinks the groove to depth of
from three to five inches, depending upon
the depth of ice. Then gang of men with
heavy chisel bars bar eff RATS of these
blocks in such share as to admit their
passage through canal which has been
previously cut from the hou7e to the pond,
and through which the ice is either lowed
by horses or pushed along by men with long
pike poles to the hosting aprons at the
dock. During their progress the cakes are
again separated by men stationed at different
bridges over the canal