Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-01-27
OUTLOOK ON HUDSON IS DISMAL,
Operators on KennebeC Waiting for
Ice to ThiCken===Will Be
Plenty OF Work for All.

can be made as to how much ice will
be cut, but perhaps some idea can be
gained from the following figures,
which show the amount of old ice OH
hand and the capacity of the empty
houses along the river.
The amount of Old ice on hand is be-
tween 10000 and 10000 tons, and it is
contained in the houses known as the
Independents, South Gardiner, Hath
ON, Berry, MOdoc, StCarnS' Point and
Hodges. The houses along the river to-
gethcr with their capacities are as fol-
lows:
Rich house, empty 90 900
Old Orchard houses, empty. ...... 30. 900
Chelsea houses, empty ........... SO. 600
Randolph houses, empty. 30 coo
SmithtoWn houses. empty .... 60 900
Lodges houses empty. As 900
South Gardiner houses, partly
empty 3U,UVV
EahumkeaG houses. empty. ....... 10, 900
HathOrn houses. partly empty..... 5000
Berry houses, partly empty 90, 900
Cedar Grove houses. empty. ...... 90. 900
Haynes Sc Dewitt houses, empty. 3d. 900
ModOc houses, empty .............. 40 900
! Lincoln houses, empty ............. % 600
Stearns' Point houses, partly ehip-
" Observation-Disclosures .2J,oc9
| Hodges houses, empty ............ 80 900
| Sagadahoc houses, empty .........2 20, 900
On the PenobSCOt river the outlook
| for an ice harvest is anything but
promising, and the prospect Of harvest
| ing Il crop is now considered very ull-
certain. About the only hope to which
the a. that river have to
cling is the unrivallcl possibilities of
the Maine climate. owing to the late
! thaW all the ice in the river has gone
out below the Aver mill, where all of
the houses on the river are located with
the exception OF Rollins and Stetson's.
| The fields fronting the American. Or
ringtpn. Ar"tic. Lords and Union upper
| and lower, are al open water. The
ponds along tho coast are in fairly good
condition and their fields are composed
OF ice from nine to II inches in thick
ness. ana ii is probable that consider
able ice will be secured from that
source.
1t will thus be seen that the best
promise Of an ice crop this winter is
furnished by the kcnnebec river and
the few ponds that are available for
the industry along the coast. The Hud-
son river may be depended upon as
q rule to furnish ice, although not al
ways a full crop. and it seldom fails.
The last time when the crop on that
river failed was i'll 1890, which was the
| last big ice year on the Kcnncbcr. On
! that occasion not Il pound WAS taken
| from the Hudson rs the ice was at 70
| time during the winter Of sufficient
| thickness to house.
1t was at that time, also. that Maine
proved her superiority as IN ice pro-
duCing state for ice was harvested thai
| year later than it possibly could have
been harvested in New York. ard il is
| a matter of record that after the first
| Of April. 1890. a stack OF $1,000 tons
| capacity was filled by the i<ni;hcrbock-
er Ice Co. at its Old Orchard houses
| III Chelsea.
1t is for this and other reasons that
| the Maine manager OF the American
Ice co. has faith that there will yet he
ice enough in the kcnnebec river and
| that a good crop will be housed. Al
| present the indications are not of tho
| brightest. as the ice is thin, and with
| the current which is now running and
the mild weather the ice is not making
| al all. but the freeze is good one, and
what ice there is in the river is of ex-
| cellent quality.
| All that is needed to start operations
! at the different places along the river
is four or five nights of zero weather,
and while waiting for that time to
come everything is being put in readi-
ness to start up at a days notice. AS
soon as the ice reaches thickness OF
Y inches work will begin, and from
that time on it will be case of hus-
tie. There will be plenty of work for
a large number of men. and everyone
who wants to work will be given an OPP
portunity. The company's boarding
| houses will be open at all places. and
men can secure board at $3.50 per week.