The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-08-05
A COLD STORAGE HOUSE
To Be Built in Wheeling Before the
Winter is Over.
HANDY FOR THE COMMISSION MEN.
Who By It's Means Can Mako the
Fruit Season Extend Over tho Whole
winter-.Lake leo Drug in the Mar
ket, and Not in it With the Artitl-
claI Ice.

1t Is wonderful what change in the
ice business reduction of few degrees
in the temperature makes. During the
phenomenally hot weather Of last week
the INTELIloENcER contained an article
describing tho scenes around the
Wheeling Ice and Storage Company's
plant. Ice wagons were described as
waiting for seven, eight and ninc hours
for a chance to load up. Yesterday the
reporter visited the plant again. The
wagons still have to wait little, as
they all get there nearly at the same
time, but as there are comparatively
few Of them, they all get their loads on
in two or three hours.
None Of the ice dealers in Wheeling
handle lake ice any more. To exc out
the supply from its ice tanks, the
Wheeling Ice and Storage Company
during the past two weeks has pur-
chased forty car loads Of lake ice. While
the company was unable to fully sup.
ply its customers with artificial ice, the
lake % was gladly taken by them. Now
that TIE famine is over, however, and
everybody can get the artificial prod
uct, nobody wants the lake ice. The
company still has two car loads, and
yesterday a dealer, who formerly
handled lake ice, waited three hours
until he could get the artificial manu-
tacture.
During the hot spell the want OF a
storage house for ice was brought home
to the company. Had there been some
way by which ice could have been stored
away,to be utilized during hot weather,
the company would not have been
compelled to send of for lake ice. The
capacity of the plant is sixty tons every
twenty-four hours. If the plant were
worked to its full capacity for four
months, it could produce all the ice the
city consumes during the entire year.
Having no storage capacity 10 amount
to much, the machinery can only be
run to produce ice according to the de-
mand, and when the demand becomes
excessive the supply falls short.
To obviate this inconvenience, to
save the money paid in freights for lake
leo, and believing that it will be good
business venture, the company intends
to build an ice house and cold storage
warehouse The ice house will have
capacity Of eight hundred or a thous-
and tons, thus enabling the company
to stock up, without any trouble, as the
warm weather approaches. The need
OF cold storage warehouse for fruits
and meats has long been felt. Last
January the stockholders voted to in
crease the present capital stock Of
100000 to $l25,000. The additional
stock has not yet been put upon the
market, but will be soon. The ice ware
house and cold storage building will be
erected by the first of December. The
company would like to build it sooner,
but as during hot weather all its ener-
gies must be devoted to the manufact-
ure Of ice, it will not start on the new
buildings until fall.
The cold storage building will be d.
vided up into rooms of different tenn
perature. It will be used for preserv-
ing butter, eggs, cheese, fresh and dried
fruits and meats, and for freezing
poultry and game or anything else
which VIII not suffer from being frozen
stiff. 1t will be possible for commits
sion merchants to put berries, grapes,
oranges, lemons and other fruits in cold
storage, and extend the fresh fruit sea-
son over the entire winter. When
lemons took jump of 81 so box few
weeks ago, it was the commission mer-
chants in New York and other places
where cold storage warehouses arc a
common thing, who made tho money.
Some. was made here in Wheeling, but
had there been some way of preserving
the fruit, good deal more would have
been made. As it was, good many
boxes OF lemons were lost, owing to
their perishable nature.
Gold storage will be good thing for
the fruit packers. At present they have
to work up their fruit. berries especial
ly, in short time. With cold storage
they can pack them away in the cold
house and do the work more leisurely
and preserve double the amount with
their present manufacturing capacity.