The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-05-17
ice WILL Be CHEAP
In Wheeling tho Coming Season.
Tho Reasons for It.
SOME PRODUCERS ARE DISGUSTED
With what they Declare to DO Over.
Produotion-soms Reliable Figures
on tho supply aud the Average Con.
sumptlon In this CIty-Prlces arc
Higher IN Other Cities.

Tho recent cold snap has mado leo a
timely subject. 1t was preceded by n
spoil OF weather unusually hot for 90
early 10 tho season. Last week. with
tho mercury lowering as ninety and
even getting two degrees above that
In tho shade, tho leo mon wore kept
about rs busy ai In tho average warm
weather Of snmmor. A careful estimate
Of the amount Of Ice consumed In tho
city during tho warmcst days PUTS It at
fifty tons u day. Butchers, saloon
keepers, druggists and conicctioners
had to usc about as much leo as they
ever DO, aud tho demand by private
fainiIie', usually the las. to DO iolt,
opcued-up briskly.
How quickly tho trade felt the sudden
fall In the temperature is shown by tho
fact that this week tho consumption
has not reached twenty-five tons daily.
leo bids fair to be n very cheap com.
modify this year, much TO the disgust
oil some producers and Wholesale deal.
ors. The bulk Of the ice sold will be
the artificial article. Notwithstanding
the plentiful supply OF natural leo last
winter. The crystal lakn' ice IN tho
market this year will be open to sus.
plcion, as much ice was cut on Wheel
Ing crock and In the Back river last
winter. IL IL thick and looks clear, but
Just how pure Ice from that source may
be, Il would take aacientistto determine.
Many ice manufacturers say that
there Is m over production OF leo. not
only hero, but in the country at large.
4 number Of ice plants broke up in tho
last year or two, the only n near here,
however, being at Steubenville. The
competition for the local trade has cut
prices greatly. The price hore III large
quantities has been fixed at 10 cents n
hundred pounds, and to private families
80 cent?. This means Is pounds q day.
seven deliveries. for 80 cents a week. In
Pittsburgh the fixed price Tor the same
amount is so cents. and prices nearly
everywhere rule much higher than
here. Ten pounds OF leo 4 day. seven
days in the week, for 20 cents, is GER
talnly cheap. 1t is said it costs on an
average 10 cents 4 hundred to haul and
deliver ice 10 families. Somebody is
going 10 lose some money In the ice
business in Wheeling this year." said
one large dealer.
The following figures representing
the consumption OF ice in Wheeling are
about as exact as can be made: On an
e~xcessi vely hot day, when the mercury
gets up toward 100. about SO tons will
beused. In customary summer weather,
40 to so tons a day will supply the
town. and on the average hottest days"
perhaps 90. tons. In the spring and
fall NOT over 20 tons are used on an aver.
age, aud from December | TO April 50
not over ten tons are consumed.
As 10 the supply. there does not seem
to be any danger OF an ice famine in the
summer Of 1895. To say nothing OF the
natural ice packed away by several local
dealer. and already being marketed,
there are three artificial ice plants now
supplying the trade. The Wheeling Ice
and Storage Company has n capacity OF
sixty tons q day. Roth, Butler < Willis
oil sixteen tons, and Louis Niebergahl, OF
the Eighth ward, can make ten tons a
day for the market. besides what he
needs in his slaughtering and meat bus.
mess and the refrigeration by the ma
chimes. Thus it will be seen that II run
TO their full capacity the three plants
can make more ice than eye- demanded
on IN extraordinarily hot day in the
local experience.
The Wheeling company has intro
duced an idea quite popular in other
cities, the selling, in quantities suitable
for household use, OF redistilled water.
This Is put up in two gallon glass jars.
This has grown to be quite a business
in Pittsburgh and Chicago. where the
usual water supply is certainly not
worse than that OF Wheeling.
"ls Is m i'll wind that blows nobody
good" and the people will say of the ice
competition, Let the merry war go on.