The New York herald., 1921-05-26
The Ice That Maine Cuts.

AS compared with once upon a
time, possibly the day is not distant
when Maine Will cut little ice; that is,
of course, in the literal and not the
figurative sense OF the term. Only
few years ago vast ice houses lined
the Kennebec River for a stretch OF
twenty miles. They are rapidly van
ishing. The last one above Gardi-
ner's Bridge was demolished only q
few days ago. OF those below that
point few remain.
Ice houses for some reason were
always a favorite target for light
ming. Sparks from railroad locomo-
tives accounted for a good many of
those burned. The trade was dwin-
ding. The cost OF ice house construc-
tion was high. Few of the burned
houses were rebuilt. Many OF those
which still remained We're only for
lorn monuments Of what once were
prosperous days. Then the epoch Of
deliberate demolition came, and that
was the beginning of the end.
1t Is the passing Of great indus
try in Maine-an industry that gave
employment to thousands at season
when work was slack in other fields.
But II Is a Maine industry which
cannot be entirely wiped out. The
fiinty hardness, the purity and COM
pactness which made Kennebec River
ice famous are still it's characteris-
tics. Maine ice will always be in
demand, but its market is already
greatly circumscribed. 1t Is fast
shrinking to local dimensions.
Science did it. Kennebec River ice,
superior as 1t is in quality, can no
longer pay the cost of gathering,
storage and transportation and COM
pete with artificial ice in markets at
even not very distant places.
There was time when New Eng
land ice went all over the hot coun-
try world. FREDERICK TUDOR of Bos-
ton first saw Ss commercial posi-.
bilities in foreign markets. That was
about 115 years ago. In 1906 he
gathered crop Of ice from Fresh
Pond, Cambridge, and sent 1870 tons
of 1t in his own brig to Martinique.
AS financial venture it was not
shining success, but TuDoR's pluck
was of that tough, old time New Eng
land fibre which does not yield read
lily to discouragement. He kept at it,
although he made little or no profit
until after the war of 1912. Then he
got a monopoly of the business in
Havana and had the support of the
island Government. Subsequently he
introduced Massachusetts ice to the
people Of Charleston, South Carolina;
Savannah and New Orleans. Then
from the West Indies he reached out
to the Indies OF the East. In 1883 he
sent a cargo Of $50 tons OF ice to Cal
cutta. About ninety tons got there.
He lost twenty tons more moving his
sections of frozen New England lakes
up the Ganges. But in the face Of all
this the Yankee merchant was not
loser. He tried Brazil next. His
ice cargo arrived and he made a
profit on It, although more than half
the original load melted on the voy-
age. BY 1885 he had the entire for
eign Ice trade in his hands. He even
sent ice to Great Britain, but Norway
and Sweden soon drove him out OF
that market.
Then others got into the ice ship
ping business, and in 1856, the banner
year, Boston sent 10000 tons of
Massachusetts, fee to a great portion
Of the tropical and sub-tropical world.
Then later on Maine ice came into
its own and soon won and held the
prestige. But the nature imitators
struck their stride at last and Maine
is pulling down her ice houses.