The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-04-04

One OF the most interesting of the
free spectacles with which the city
OF London abounds. and which never
fall to impress the visitor, is the ship
ping on the Thames Immediately be-
low London Bridge. At almost any
hour of the day a number of people
may be seen leaning idly against the
parapet watching the loading or un-
loading of some large ocean-going
vessel. 1t may be far cry from
London Bridge to bridge over the
Red river, vet there is at least one
interesting spectacle to be seen from
q bridge crossing the Red river at
Grand Forks, never vouchsafed to the
toiling millions of London. Unsym-
pathetic souls have been known to
declare that the western land ia de-
void of the picturesque. And yet
those who seek beauty there will
surely find 1t. The sight of teams
drawing great cargoes Of greenish
glistening ice over the white pathway
Of the Red river, with the winter
landscape on either side, is not with
out certain beauty. The above sight
has attracted the attention of the
passersby during the past winter.
Process Is Not Simple.
Many who have seen the beautiful
~ tinted blocks of ice being hauled
about the streets of Grand Forks have
probably imagined that the taking of
Ice from river is simple and easy
operation. For the ice Is there, it
would be argued, and only requires
to be chopped out AS matter of
fact the chopping out process is any,
thing but simple. The natural ice in
dustry is highly complicated one re-
curing brains in its management,
skill In its operatives and last but
not least considerable amount of
capital with which to carry it on. In
the evolution of the industry it has
been found economical to employ
wide variety of tools and machinery.
One might at first wonder why such
variety of ADDE'S, edgers. augurs,
avis. chisels, forks, tongs, shavers,
ploughs, crowbars, trimmers, etc.. was
necessary, but experience has proved
that each tool has it's own appointed
task which 1t can perform more salts
factorily and with greater dispatch
than any other tool. Some years ago
representative of one of the fac
tories turning out natural ice tools
and machinery went over to Norway
to Interview the ice cutters of that
country. Norway had always done a
large trade in natural ice. but hither-
to its methods had been extremely
crude and altogether devoid of mod
ern principles. After long process
OF persuasion the American prevailed
upon one of the leading cutters to ex-
pertinent with complete ice-cutting
plant with the result that the industry
In Norway has been revolutionized
within comparatively recent years.
Greater quantities of ice have been
cut, the price has been cheapened and
the cutters have made larger profits.
Watching the Weather.
The most important factor in the
ice-cutting industry is the manner in
which the winter sets in, in other
words on the way in which the ice
forms on the rivers surface. Snow
drifts are the bugbear of the ice-cut-
ter. The mouth of November forms
the critical period and during. this
time of the year the managers of ice
firms are wont to watch the weather
with unwonted keenness. An inter-
esting case in point occurred this
winter, for the Red river during the
latter part of November was covered
with immense foes of mushy snow.
Harvesting the Crop.
After cleaning the surface of the
ice by means of scrapers, one of the
first operations in the harvesting of
the crop-for ice is spoken of just
as If 1t were grain-is to mark out
the surface in rectangular blocks.
This is done by an ingeniously con-
trived plough, which keeps the lines
at precisely the same distance one
from the other. The blade of the
marker penetrates the ice to the
depth of about three inches. In the
process of cutting or ploughing,
which follows. the blade enters the
ice to depth of twelve inches. In
ploughing the greatest possible care
has to be taken to prevent the ice
being cut through to the water. When
this happens the water penetrates the
crevices between the blocks already
cut and quickly freezes, necessitating
a second ploughing.
Twenty inches Is considered an
ideal thickness for the ice sheet, and
this is the thickness which is usually
aimed at. The ice-plough is the most
ingenious OF all the appliances used