Wichita eagle., 1890-01-10
aailS eagle
KEPT COOL FOR COOKS.
GOOD THINGS STORED IN THE
GREAT BIG REFRlGERATORS.

How Meat, Game, Butter, Cheese and Eggs
Are Kept in Good Condition All the
Year Round-Contents of the Cold Stor-
age Houses in Chicago.
Below the ice bed of a gorge in the Altai
mountai Is some Siberian peasants once found
the huge body of a mastodon- The find was
by accident. The peasants were hungry. They
had not the faintest idea that this immense
carcass had been lying there, buried under
layer on layer OF ice and rock, for many thou
sands OF years-longer at any rate than the
memory OF man runneth. SO they cut OH
chunk of this meat and boiled 1t over fire.
And it tasted good and they all snacked
their lips over il. Subsequently big slices OF
this same n1astodon were eaten by other peas
ants, who came In sleigEs TO get family roasts.
The remainder of the mastodon was finally
shipped By the government TO st. Petersburg,
where 1t forms today one Of the chief attrac-
tions in a museum
GROWTH OF THE BUSINESS.
To make business of preserving large
quantities of food for the market by means
of cold is thing of rather recent date in
~
up, found the first modest attempt was made
fifteen years ago on State street by the Chi
cago fruit house. But that was only for
fruit. In 1878 the Western Refrigerating
company started on Michigan street, and
their business increased so rapidly that others
came in TO share honors and enoluments
with them, and today there are five large re-
fr1geratIng concerns In the city. The COM
bined money value of the articles of food
they preserve and keep fit for human use
represents just now about 81, 10000 This
comprises eggs, butter, cheese, dry and green
fruits, and in season many other perishabls
things, like meat, poultry, game and venison.
The processes employed in preserving differ
greatly in different establishments. So do
prices charged. As rule, however, half a
cent per pound is exacted for butter or
cheese, 60 cents per case of eggs thirty DOZEN
from % TO so cents per barrel OF apples and
Il to q cent per pound Of dried fruit. This
is for keeping them from April to Jan. l, II
desired, but generally the season includes
about six months, the heated term for but
ter, eggs, cheese, ETC., the cold time for
poultry, game, apples, etc. AS TO the meth
DDS of preservation, the Western Refrigerat-
ing company uses one which it keeps g Sec
ret, while the Union, at Sixteenth and State,
makes use Of the brine circulating system,
similar to the one in vogue in breweries.
The Chicago Refrigerating company has
adopted the direct expansion system, an III
genious method, by which ammonia expands
right in tho pipes while in the cooling rooms,
absorbing in its expansion the heat in the
surrounding air and changing into gas at the
same time. The gas again turns into hque-
fed or anhydrous ammonia and is thus made
TO do continuous duty. AT Keppler's cold
storage houses in st. Clair, Ills, and in this
city, the refrigerating is done 10 the simple
and old fashioned way, usually ice.
As to the temperature to be maintained,
that is another point OF difference. The cold
storage men require from 50 TO 40 dogs. to
keep their goods in proper trim. To subject
fruit, eggs, cheese, etc, TO freezing would In
jurs them 1t is different with game and
meat. To best preserve that it is necessary
10 freeze it. \ Dearborn street dealer keeps
all the year round about $4,000 worth OF
game, venison, etc, in a stiff and lfelesS con-
dition in his huge freezing rooms below hls
store The temperature down there is so low
that it is hardly safe for an emplOye TO ven
ture into the rooms without having sheathed
himself in a fur mufiier. About ten below
zero Is the figure, winter and summer, and II
Is amusing TO see in those chambers OF death
whole rows Of black bears, stiff a ramrod
and deer, mountain sheep, antelope and elk
which give forth genuine dull thud, Il
thumped ever SO slightly. The owner main
tains that game and venison improves IN
favor and tenderness by this freezing treat
ment This, of course, must remain matter
of taste for each ono TO judge for himself.
MILLIONS OF EGGS
The egg, however, small as it is, per Sc, is
the biggest item in the cold storage interest.
The Western Refrigerating company, for in
stance, which occupies four large building:
On Michigan street, with 2,ooo,0OO cubic feet
OF cold storage space, frequently holds a!
much as 100, 900 cases Of eggs-or 36,OoO,OO
OF theIn-at one time.
In Chicago, it appears, the eggs kept in the
refrigerafing houses for months and month:
sre uorted out during winter for fresh ones
That can't be helped" said E. 2. Baker, {
cold storage man, because during winter
the supply of fresh eggs is never large enough
to meet the demand Tho commission men
for whom we have kept these eggs all through
the spring and summer and fall, now gel
them from US, and they sell these preserved
eggs 10 the retailers at moderate price
The retailers again have their customers ask
for fresh eggs They must sell them these
as being the next best thing. But 10 is fac
that when eggs are kept carefully IN colo
storage they have really remained fresh, 81
fresh that even an expert could not tell th'
difference by sight, smell or taste.
As far as the public st large is concerned
there can be no doubt that the cold storaG'
business has achieved much good, and Is con
tinUing to do that every day. 1t equalze
prices ali the year around for number o
necessary articles of food. We're is not fol
cold storage, eggs would not bring more thar
cents per dozen IN May, instead OF 10 to L
cents; and on the other hand eggs would cos
50 TO 40 cents per dozen in winter, instead o
Is to 20 cents. Meats, too, have becom
much more even in prices for the same reason
and so has cheese and butter. Time was
and that was but fifteen TO twenty years ag'
when butter ranged as ugh Gs 20 to % cent
Der pound during the winter months, Will
now butter, which wss originally the best L
be had, and which has but slightly lost it
flavor and aroma by reason Of its cold stor
age. can be had at - ceRts.-Cl1 icaso Herald