Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-04-12
RANDOM RECOLLECT|ONS.

1910, Wueu we uSCu w nave OhS
good old-fashioned winters, with
plenty of zero weather, there was
one industry that flourished in the
village which had never failing
source of supply, and that was the
cutting and shipping of ice
In the past few years nearly every |
city of any considerable size has
had in operation at least one "ice
foundry" and they no longer have
to depend on the various streams
and cold weather for their supply
of ice.
The Maumee river and cold
weather combined to furnish an
inexhaustible supply of ice, and
there were hundreds of carloads
shipped from here each winter for
number of years. Most of it
went to firms in Cincinnati, Ohio,
and Louisville, Ky. There were
several firms here engaged in the
ice business and they furnished
plenty of work at good wages for
about ten weeks during the winter
months, to large number of men
and teams. The ice was usually
taken from the river near the big
dock at the foot of Louisiana ave-
nee, in cakes about 3 feet long, 2
feet wide, and varied from s to II
inches in thickness, though | have
several times seen it fully IA inches
thick. The ice was always hauled
to the railroad in wagons, even
though there happened to be good
sleighing, for the wagon boxes were
nearly on a level with the floors OF
the box cars in which the ice was
shipped, therefore the labor of load
ing it into the cars was greatly re-
duced. The men and teams engag-
ed in this industry worked from
Daylight till dark and loaded on an
average of from twelve to fifteen
cars each day.
For a number OF years and as far
back as my memory runs, till about
1879, the "official ice man" for
Perrysburg was the late John b.
(Jack) Webb. in those days he
had large ice house fronting on
the railroad near the corner OF
Walnut street. This ice house was
the rendezvous each morning dur
ing the summer months while the
ice wagon was being filled for a
crowd of small boys, each clamor-
! ing for a piece of ice. And right
here let me remark that human ma
ture has not changed in children In
that respect in the past fifty years,
for even now when the ice man
makes his daily roun1s right in this
big city, every time the wagon
stops there gathers group of small
boys (and girls each clamoring for
a "little piece of ice." And who of
the old-time residents of Perrys-
burg does not remember the horse
attached to Webb's ice wagon-old
"Spot" the horse that always re-
minded you of the circus horses,
and the old time pictures OF the
frey and untamed Arabian steeds.
Old "Spot" was doing duty as the
motive power of Jack Webb's old
fashioned two-wheeled dray at the
close of the war Of the rebellion
and when he became too old and
feeble to draw the ice wagon and
the ice plow when cutting ice in
winter time, he was allowed to
roam the streets of the town at
will. For several years Hank
Webb, nephew of Jack, was in
charge Of the ice wagon as delivery
man, and he was the envy OF the
average small boy, for he could
take bigger chew of tobacco and
still be able to talk through it than
any full grown man in the town
| Also he was we'll liked by the small
Catarrhal Deafness Cannot Be Curet
by local applications as they canno
reach the diseased portion of the ear
There is only one way to cure catarrha
deafness. and that is by a conStitu