The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-03-04
CORRESPONDENCE.
Our Minnesesa Letter.

MINNEAPOLIS. Feb. Goth, 1892.
EdftOr Of Bonner, DEAR SIR:-Winter
seems to have given over most of its
claim to the supremacy of control leav-
ing me with about the same thoughts
that possessed me year ago, viz: the
Minnesota winter is not the severely
frigid affair that | used to think it. To
be sure our thermometer went down to
10 degrees ana the water pipes will per-
Sst in freezing occasionally, but my
opinion of this latitude used to be that
such would be the every day average OF
things for the winter. The truth is,
however, that when the temperature is
very low the atmosphere is SO dry that
one does not notice it if they are well
protected. In the south, the winter
being the rainy season, is unpleasantly
cold, with the temperature many degrees
above zero. Indeed | never knew my
thermometer to get within 10 degrees of
zero down there. They have many
warm rains there in the winter and right
after some of them have enjoyed a bath
in the liver as well as would have done
in July; while that is true, the other
side of the question is that the next day
may be one of the coolest days in the
winter.
While have enjoyed good health, as
an average, in all parts where l have
been. expect the climate here is as
favorable to health as any where. One
item of this winters experience that has
been novel and interesting to me has
been the ice harvest on the lakes. the
work is SO nicely arranged that is a
pleasure to follow the ice fir I'm the water
to the ice house. Perhaps it may be as
much novelty to some one else as it
was to m SO will give few lines of
description of the work. Most of the
saving Is done by horse power. A
frame with handles like II Cultivator is
used To start IA new groove in the ice at
the proper distance from the last one,
the regular width is maintained by an
iron running in the last line that was
marked out. When it is marked one
way the same machine is run at right
angles, but making the blocks little
longer than in the other direction, one
and one-halt and two feet in size. The
next machine to follow in the same
groove is like a heavy cross and saw
fastened to frame with handles and
place to hitch the horse or horses. This
last pillow or saw. or whatever it may be
called, is run back and forth five or six
times to cut to depth of twelve inches;
beyond that depth it is sawed by hand
and partly broken off. Then the method
of hOiSting it to the ice house is by
means of an endless chain arrangement,
one end of which is the water and the
other up where they want the ice deliv-
cred. The chain is run by a little en-
cine and as the bars that are across the
chains are drawn up through the water,
the blocks are started into position so
the chain can haul them up. This ar
rangcment is the same in use at the saw
mills to haul the logs out of the water,
only to catch the log there are spikes
short distance apart, while for the ice
there are the bars to haul them up.
There is no cessation of enterprise
here. There are various new establish
ments i'll contemplation, among which
there is branch library. The central
library is known as the Atheneum Ii.
hrary and there are now three branches
in the city, and there are 30 names on the
pay roll OF the library and its branches.
I have spent several afternoons in the
reading rooms and | find the rooms gen
orally comfortably full of people of all
ages, many of them with note books in
hand as they read.
Recently banquet was given by the
HlbtCl lllNll VI JllC SlNl4 w NIllNll NINN
vited the grOcerymen at st. Paul and
Duluth: one may Judge of the extent of
the grocery business by the large crowd
that gathered there, SAID to be 800.
A new school houoo to be built in our
end of the city will be lO0Xl32 feet III
size, and three stories high with base
ment, costing $50, 900. The tower will
be 100 feet high.
A novelty dawned upon Minneapolis
this morning in describing which will
quote few lines from the Minneapolis
.iOITRdt: THE coffee cart has come, and
Mrs. Russell. manager of the W. c. I. U.
coffee house is accordingly the happiest
woman in Minneapolis. To-day sees the
portion of a scheme which was long ago
conceived by that thoughtful and benev-
Olent lad2. The evils resulting from the
almost enforced use of stimulants by
the tiremen at long continued fires first
suggested to Mrs. Russell the idea of
furnishing coffee and sandwiches to the
hard working fire laddies. The wagon
is indeed beauty. In general exterior
appearance, 50 far us shape and style go,
it resembles a stylish brOugham. The
body is about ten feet long and hangs
upon easy springs" There are two cot
fee urns and lockers for dishes and
spoons, and open boxes for the sand
witches, but leave the reader to mag
inc how they are arranged.
Two of our lady teachers were in Chi
cagO last Saturday, and were almost
overcome with establishment at the pro-
gress and hustle at Jackson Park in
preparation for the Fair. This is GER
tainly fast age and fast country, and
those of us who are little slow are in
danger of getting left. Yours truly,
G. +. BRECKENRIDGE.