The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-29
EATABLES KEPT FOR YEARS
The Great Benefits Derived from I"
COld-StOrage system.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
The almost perfect system to which cold
storage has been brought in this city and
it's suburbs is known only IN a genera way
to the average citizen. 1t Will doubtleSSly
cause surprise to persons VINO are not Ia,
miliar with the facts to learn that a quall
they eat for breakfast has been dead IN
some cases for one or two years ana that
quail and other game birds, nSn ana meat
are frequently frozen for a year or I 1II
and then sold in as good condition as they
were the day they were put into the great
The business has grown to such dimen-
sions that it is estimated roughly that mar
ket men, shippers and others interested IN
the trade have $15 900 invested in the
business, exclusive of the cost of the build
ings. Large structures, usually located
adjacent to the markets or the rallroad
depots, are in demand for cold storage
warehouses, and there are several on upper
West street more near Washington Mar
ket others located near the Fulton Market
and under the arches OF the ,o,i Bp99oRi tgd
for the purpose. Except in the case or
fruit and such vegetables as are destroyed
by freezing, it is said to be seldom that
provisions are sold to the consumer upon
arrival in this city. Prices, of course, have
much to do with the sales, and when there
is an overstock Of chickens, eggs, peel,
fish, meat or similar commodity, 1t is
packed away in a cold storage warehouse,
where it is held until prices justify sale
AS regards game, it was only last WIN
ter that emssaries of the state game war
den came to this city to find out why GER
"a
pheasants, quail and every other sort Of
game out Of season The deputy game
Wardens had quail for breakfast in Sep,
TENDER, when the law said that they should
not be killed until December; venison
for dinner, when deer can only be hunt
ed in January. and woodcock and snlpe.
Then they made a list OF the restaurants
where the game had been obtained and
arrested the proprietors. The proprietors
gave the names Of the men from Whom
they had bought the game, and these We're
found to have obtained it from the ware
house men 1t was learned that some of the
game had been killed more than q year pc
fore during the regular season. There were
expressions Of consciousness and wonder
ment on the faces of the game Wardens
when they departed for home. In their re-
ports they said the law had not peen Vlo-
I'VE certainly have developed the BUSH
ness" said one of the warehousemen yes
terday, Ito a point that Is unequaled IN
any other part of the world. Europe has
nothing like the cold warehouse system or
this city. Even royal perSonages nave 10
take their vegetables, meat, fruit ana game
in season. Here we do not. The cold ware
house system has been growing SO slowly
and yet surely in this city that II would
he considered a hardship by citizens II
thew had to do without It. We have oeVel-
oped a pampered taste that requires fruit
at Christmas, commodities that In the good
old times we could get only When nature tl
provided them, at times months after the
time they. are grown or killed adeecns hlc en-
men want trout at k4 all seasons tb9t tbe oT
can only be obtained in the spring. Young
chickens cannot be obtained except at their
weight in gold during the winter If they
are grown during the cold months and
killed Just before being used. BY means
of the cold storage system they cost little
more on New Years day than they do in
May Spring lamb that was obtainable
formerly only in May and June IS carefully
packed away in the spring ana SOLD the
succeeding winter and weeks before the
earliest spring lamb of the following spring
is born Beef and mutton are not kept near
ly so long-nO need to do so.
"Bluefsh can be obtained only at certain
seasons, yet they are on sale all the time.
The same is true regarding bass, mackerel
and other fish. Oysters and CLANS are also
kept for months at time and frequently
from one season to another.
visit to one of these warehouses is in
teresting The walls are of extraordinary
thickness sheathed with wood and filled
with huge ice boxes. In some of the more
modern warehouses the same chemicals
used to make artificial ice are circulated
through the rooms by means of pipes
which keep the temperature several de-
grees below zero. The nsh, meat or game
to be preserved is packed in the ice boxes,
which have double walls, and the ice is
packed around them. With the atmosphere
around them below zero, the articles to be
preserved are kept at q temperature that
would make an arctic explorer shiver, until
they are wanted, when they are taken out
and sold, sometimes in few days and as
often in a few months. The refrigerator
cars have helped to develop the cold stor-
age business.
There are about twenty-five large cold
storage warehouses in this city and a
greater number of small ones. In all they
employ nearly a thousand men.