Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-03-02
Ice Crop on the KennebeC
Will Be Short.
Mild Weather and Thin Ice
Against the Operators.
Crews Working Day and Night to Get
Every Ton Possible.

The situation as regards the ice har-
vest on the Kennebec river is regarded
today as anything but promising.
March is here and with spring weather
but a few weeks ahead, the ice in the
river is far below the average thick
ness for this time of year. Nowhere
along the river where the big fields are
located is the ice more than IA inches
in thickness, even in the coves and
along the shores where the ice is al
ways the heaviest and the thickness
mentioned above is the exception rath-
er than the rule. But that is not all.
Out in the middle of the river, where
there ought to be at the beginning of
March, 10, IS, and even 20 inches of ice,
the thickness is far less and runs down
in many places to only four inches,
which is much too thin to cut.
AS might be expected, operations
have been suspended at a number Of the
places along the lower river and be-
cause of thin ice and the prospect of
resumIng work at these places is poor
unless some extreme cold weather
should be Forthcoming during the early
days of the month now beginning. The
sun is now running high and even
though the nights should be cold, ice
would form but slowly under such
conditions and the outlook is, as stated
| above, dubious.
The ice harvest thus far on the Ken
! nebec is small and consists of $4,000
tons which have been run into the
nd l0OQ wifi n
hch the ice already in the Hathorn
| houses at Dresden was topped off. The
places along the river where operations
are now in progress are at the Rich
houses at Farmingdale, the Old Or
| chard houses in Chelsea, the Randolph
| houses and at the Lodges, 1ndepend-
| ents, Berry's, ModOcs, and at Swan
| Island, and work Is now being pushed
at these places with u view of getting
all that is possible. At the Randolph
houses the crews were doubled
| Wednesday in order to run night and
| day and the same schedule will go in
| to effect at the Rich and Old Orchard
houses tonight.
The thin ice which is being housed
| is Il source of much annoyance from
| the fact that it is thin and while were
| it Of the average thickness it could be
| hustled into the houses at rate Of
speed that is only known on the Ken
1 ncbec river, the machinery which Is
| used in the work is so adjusted that in
| handling thin ice il does not work to
advantage. But i'm spite of that the
| cakes are going into the houses as fast
| as il is possible to run them, for 1t is
| the determination of the company con-
Quoting the operations to get every
pound that it can.
! One of the authorities said today in
| speaking of the situation, that in all
his years of experience in ice harvest
| ing he had never seen anything like
| the conditions existing on the l<enne-
| bee this winter. There is nothing in
| the history of the ice business in Maine
| that serves as Il parallel. For the river
| to fail to furnish an ice crop was
] something that never was dreamed of,
| he said, but the present winter is COM
| ing dangerously near establishing q
record in that particular. The opera
1 tors still cling to the hope for cold
| weather enough to bring about better
| conditions. but it is a fOrlOrn hope.
But the work will still go on and
though the ice which is now being run
into the houses is thinner than ever
| river ice house before, the cakes will
| be kept moving and every minute will
be utilized in order to get as much as
possible before the mild weather calls
a halt.