The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-01-31
MAXINKUCKEE ICE CROP.
Annual Harvest Will Soon Be on in
Full Blast.

continuation of freezing weather and
the absence of snow or sleet, which |
makes the work more laborious and
hazardous, and makes the planning of
the big chunks imperative. Two new
mammoth structures are now rapidly
approaching completion and it will
take weeks to gather in enough of the
CONCEALED aqua to fill them. i.
The Maxinkuckee Lake Ice. COM
pany, whose principal owners are
Messrs. Hollingsworth and Reamer
of South Bend, and whose houses
and plant were destroyed by fire in
June, are rushing the work on the six
big houses to replace those destroyed
The new houses are practically the
same size of the old, being simple
structure 14Ox240 feet and 80 feet in
side height, subdivided into six
houses, 4Ox14O feet in dimensions.
Each of these rooms or houses has
a capacity of about 1000 tons, making
thSl tOtdi SdpdSity SOhiCWhCiS DC-
tween 10000 and $4,000 tons.
In addition to these, S. E. Med
bourn is completing structure 120
x13O feet, and % feet high, subdivided
into three rooms of 40x13O feet, with
room capacity of about $500 tons
each, or a total of about 10000 t,.us.
ID. G.. Walters, to supply I'll, local
trade, puts up probably 5000 tons. and
G.. r. Howard, for his own consump-
ton in his ice cream factory, about
1000 tons. Thus the grand total c'it
if all houses are filled, will be in the
neighborhood of 10000 tons, aside
from the hundreds and hundreds of
cars shipped direct from the ways.
A feature in the construction OF
both new plants is the absence If
elevator superstruotures over the
tracks. The Vandalia has cut chan
nels under the tracks through which
the ice will be rolled in steady
stream of cakes until the elevators
are reached. AT the. Medbourn houses
the channel comes straight in from
the lake TO the elevator, while at the
Maxinkuckee Ice company''s plant the
channel is located about 500 feet To
the north. Here the ice is raised by
the. endless elevator plan to point
about level with a car door, and car
ried nearly the entire distance on the
same level to point within about
IS feet of the houses when it is raised
to the runways. This gives them a
trackage of nearly 500 feet for car
filling, and requires but little switch
ing, as large number of cars can be
placed in readiness to fill at once.
The outer walls of these buildings
are twelve inches thick tightly sealed
both inside ard out, and the space
between filled with sawdust. The
partition walls are 8 inches, and SINH
larly stuffed Hay is used between
the layers of ice. Over 100000 feet
of lumber is being used in their con-
struction. most all of which is OF a
good quality, as knot holes permit
the leakage of sawdust filling, and
such lumber cannot be economically
used. sse
Although neither he MedbOurn or
the Maxinkuckee Lake Ice. company's
plants are finished, it is the intention
of Mr.. Medbourn to begin cutting as
soon as thickness of seven inches
is secured. With good force of cut
tiers it will take 10 or Is days to fill
the houses the carpenters in the mean
time finishing the walls as the houses
fill, thereby saving the huge scaffold-
ing which wohld otherwise be neces-
sary.
Work on the Maxinkuckee Ice
company's plant has progressed to a
point when it will take at least 10
days to enable them to begin packing
Considerable ditching along the chan
mel remains to be done, and the boiler
and engine to be installed, as well as
all the elevating apparatus The firm
is sanguine, however of having every
thing in readiness in time to get in a
big crop. This firm has been singu
larly unfortunate in the ice business
here, having bought the plant a year
ago. Owing TO the open winter they
succeeded in filling only three houses
about half full last winter, and then
suffering the loss of the entire plant
by fire in June.
S. F. Medbourn, who is now re-
entering the ice business after being
few years separated from it, is a pio
neer in the field here, The original
houses erected by Medbourn & Pitt
man were the first along Maxinkuc
kee. Later on while associated with
Sterling R. Holt he successfully car
ried on the business, and owes his
present financial position to the yield
of frozen Maxinkuckee. $500 '
ice harvest is of great benefit
to the town and surrounding country.
giving employment during the cut
ting season ito, every man and boy
that ican be obtained. Many farmers
with little to do at this time of the
year.. find profitable employment at it
and the wages are good and although
the work necessarily involves con-
siderable exposure. seldom if ever re-
suits seriously to anyone, such is the