The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-27


row along the Penobscot and weeping
among those that dwell on the banks of
the Kennebec.
It is not surprising that this is so,
since ice is one of Names chief staples,
and a severe winter means small out
side demand for frozen blocks from
Bangor and Augusta, while mild sea-
son is the forerunner Of a big ice mar
ket and a perfect stream of shekels into
the Golfers of those who supply it. In
1878, for instance, the crop to the
southwark failed completely, and the
ice spectators could not get to Maine
fast enough. Wages were good, work
was plenty, every man who wanted it
got employment, and cutters and dealers
made fortunes. In the winter of 1901
hardly ton was taken from the Hud-
son, and New Y ork, the biggest ice mar
ket in the world, was without its usual
supply. The excitement this caused
among ice cutters. dealers and brokers
was almost akin to the gold fever of
1849 while it lasted, and ponds and
streams were cut in Maine that had
never before been made to yield up ice.
Big fortunes were realized by those
who were shrewd enough to sell their
product out at reasonable prices, for not
only was there a great demand for
Maine ice from New York and other
eastern cities that usually get all they
want from nearby sources, but there
was also strenuous call from the west.
One Maine firm sent four ice laden
trains of 20 cars each clean through to
st. Louis, where the very profitable price
of $40 ton, seeing that it costs only
about 60 cents to barely harvest it, was
obtained. Some there were, however,
who failed to be satisfied with the earth
as reward for their ice harvesting Ia
bors. They wanted the planet fenced in,
and these held their product for $40 a
ton and stacked vast quantities, believ-
ing they would get what they asked in
the fall and perhaps more. But their
schemes fell through, and some of the
greedy ones lost fortunes by reason of
their greediness. They had not counted
on the great loss that came from the
melting Of the stacked ice nor on the
lessening demand from the cities of the
south and west caused by the high
prices.
It was in 1890 that some one con-
CO4FO0 6u0 4OOc1 "a 6OOO44AS AOO AL
America from the ponds and rivers of
Norway, and a few cargoes were actual
ly brought hither from that faraway
land, but whether much money was
made thereby do not know. 1t was in
1890, too, that boom for artificial ice
was begun, and many plants for its man
ufacture were set up. Certainly the ap-
pearance of made ice is beautiful, and
it was freely predicted in 1890 that ma
lures work in that direction would soon
be altogether superseded by mans, but
for some reason, so far, natures still
holds it's own.
The first icehouse in Maine was put
up in 1881 on the Kennebeo river near
Augusta, and the Tudors of Boston, the
pioneers of the ice business in New Eng
| land and probably in the United States,
shipped that winters harvest to the
| West Indies. The first cargo taken from
Maine was shipped in 1926 on the brig
| Orion. She was frozen in that winter
| near Pittston on the Kennebec, and when
the river broke up in the spring was
| loaded with irregular cakes, hauled
aboard as they foated past. This ice
| was sold in Baltimore at good profit,
but the venture of the Tudors five years
| later was a losing one, and it was not
| till 1860 that cutting and selling ice be-