The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-12-15
Big ICE PLANT
AND WAREHOUSE
DAVIDSON TO EXPEND $4,000
Will Erect Brick Structure this
Spring-JOe Wilson has Another
Brick in Contemplation.

A two-story brick cold storage ware
house and ice liant to be erected during
the coming spring at cost OF $4,000 is
under contemplation by the Davidson
Fruit company. This company has
purchased the warehouse and lease OF
railroad property from Joe Wilson, who
in turn accepts lease of ground between
the warehouse of the Fruit Growers
union and Page 4 Son. Mr.. Wilson
also announces that when he puts up
another warehouse it will be two-story
brick structure.
The proposed warehouse of the David
son Fruit company will be 40xl00 feet
in extent, and will be erected on the pres
ent site of the Wilson warerooms, which
will be moved Immediately to ground
where the cannery formerly stood.
Here it will BIZ used during the coming
berry season as an Office and receiving
wareroom.
The ice plant to be installed will have
a capacity of seven tons day, and will
be erected chiefly to make ice for the
refrigerator cars loaded here. As one
fruit car requires five tons of ice, to meet
the need OF 10 or two dozen cars a day
a large quantity of ice will have to be
manufactured early in the season and
kept on hand in large cold storage
room. This same room will be used
later in the year for storing winter
apples. 1t will have capacity of 35,-
600 boxes of apples.
Mr.. Davidson says he first learned
the real worth of a coldstorage ware
room for apples from Burt Van Horn.
Mr.. Van Horn has large ice plant and
warehouse near Buffalo, where he stores
his winter apples until late in the
spring.
Van Horn says that apples packed in
October will shrink inside of a month
il not placed in cold storage, but fruit
like the Baldwin apple if packed when
picked and Immediately placed in cold
storage will be first class when placed
ON the market next spring. With this
means OF keeping Hood River apples,
this new chemical cold storage plant of
the Davidson Fruit company will mean
much to the apple growers OF the val
ley.
The coldstorage ware rooms will be
useful in the berry season. Berries re-
ceived in the heat of the day will be
showed into the cooling room before be-
ing placed in the refrigerator cars. Mr..
Davidson says he has found out from
California shippers thatl is the sudden
changes of temperature and moisture
precipitated in the refrigerator cars by
the warm fruit placed therein and
allowed to cool that produces mould on
fruit. The warm fruit melts the ice and
sends the temperature up in the car.
When the car is re-iced the tempera-
ture suddenly goes down again. 1t is
this change of the temperature that is
believed to cause the mould.
California fruit men are enabled to
ship cherries all the way to New York
by cooling the fruit pefore putting it in
the refrigerator cars, while Hood River
cherries spoil in going to Denver.
Whether or not this plant will be
erected this spring depends altogether
on the weather." said Mr.. Davidson. If
the weather is such as to permit us to
begin building operations in February
there will be plenty of time to complete
the work before the berry season. "If
we cannot begin in February operations
will have to be postponed until later in
the summer, as such a delay would
throw the work into the shipping sea-
son ~