Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1900)
OMAHA ILLUS'l'MATHI) UI3E. Harvesting the Ice Crop for Omaha February '2T,, 1000. - Fifteen hundred brawny men nie em ployed In the Ico harvest which Is now at Hh zenith in Omaha and vicinity. Thu re markably warm weather during tlie early part of the winter created apprehension that n sweltering public would bo dependent upon the artlliclal product next summer, but the polar wave which swept down from somewhere up north a fow weeks ago Inu (piloted all fears. The Iceman Is now In his glory. Like a general on a Held of battle, ho directs his men early and late, and the closu of every day sees the Ico output increased by from fi.000 to 10,000 tons. Nearly 1.000 of the men engnged In the hnrvift of congealed niua are employed by a consolidation of several of tho most promi nent local retail linns, and tho rannln'ng GOO are working for the Independent deal ers and tho packing houses and others who put up Ice for their own use. These laborers receive from $1.50 to $1.75 per day, which ngregates a total dally pay roll of soino whero near $2,500. This does not Include tho wages of foremen and others In au thority, so it Is noted at a glance that tho ico harvest U putting money in circulation at a rapid rate. Some dilllculty has been experienced In Mailing men to do the work, for the reas n that an unusually large per centage of w rklngmen have regular em ployment. The ice harvest began about threo weeks ago and will continue as long as the weather remains cold. .No lee I'niiiliie Tlii't-nl-iii'l, Indications now denote that there will be Ico for everybody next summer. There may not bo a reduction in price there Is no ab solute promise to that effect but It Is averred by those In charge that prices win be ns low a they usually are. The fact that several companies have ccnaolida'.od gave rise to rumors of an ice trust and in cidentally created tho presumption that prices would go upward. Rclntivo to the ice crop and probable prices next summer, President Talbrt of the consolidation says: "The crop Is Immense and tho quality Is excellent. For family use we art cutting Ice from the reservoir, which is the purest that can be found. As to prices, I can only say that there will bo no increase over prices cf other years SAWING ICE RAFTS Photo when ico was plenty. The cold weather has given an excellent Held upon which to . .i work und wo aro 'making nay wnno iuo ,... n, th farmer would say. the only difference being that our 'hay Is lc! a lighter color and Injures its selling quall and our 'sun' Is a low thermometor." ties. Thn modem method of harvesting Ico is A notable feature of work on an Ico Held an Interesting study. Tho old-fnshloned u liuoi uaiiiiB ai"). - - plan of chopping It out. with an ax has long since been relegated to tho stock water ponds on tho Interior farms The , Ice bus- lness has undergone- a completo revolution within recent years. Mecnnnicni hkui umi experience havo Invented numerous appll- ances by which tho cutting, storing and i. . it I l.r. l.nnn fnilllPflll tf fl (i.siriuuung oi it" hub .'-- scienco. It Is now conceded that without tho aid of extensive machinery tho Ice bus- lness cannot bo succoFSfuuy conuucteii. With tho up-to-dnto nppllances ten men can now do tho work formerly done by luo In a given length of tlmo and on a much moro satisfactory basis to the Iceman. Tin lliirv'Mlnu4 I'rooi-MN. Tako a clear Held' of Ice, tho Hrst thing the modern harvesters do Is to go upon tho ico with a mnrker drnwn by a horse nnd mark tho surfaco oh In squares of twenty two Inches each. This marker Is a sharp edged Implement which cuts n groovo threo inches deep nnd nbout thrco-elghths of an Inch wide. Tho marker Is followed by a plow, which moves nlong tho lines indicated by tho marker, cutting the Ico to a depth of about eight Inches, inoro or less, accord ing to thlckneFS. Tho plow and tho markei nro each drawn by a horse. The horso Is lad by a boy and tho handles of tho plow or marker aro hold by a man, wno works In about tho snmo way as tho farmer who plows a furrow In tho earth. After this has been done lt Is but the work of n fow min ute for laborers to saw out a raft or float of Ice, which Is usually about fifty feet long and sixteen feet wtdo. This "float," ns the ice man calls it, is then troken up into the squares originally made by tho marker and plow and tho chunks are fed into an elivator, which by means of an endless, chain process hoists tho cakes of Ico to tho storage house, If It be situated near; If not, it has to bo hauled away in wagons, but that Is seldom done In these days, for, as a rule, the Ico companies have storage houses In immediate proximity to the lee Hold. It Is surprising what a largo quantity of ico can be handled by theso endless chain elevators, it Is the same principle on which the old-fashioned threshing machine carries tho grain from the stack. Tho chain runs In carrying Its load and then io turns by a route underneath to be refilled In this way there Is a constant llow of tho ico into the storage house, men being sta tloncd at intervals of a few feet to pick up the cakes and toss them Into storage. 'Mils Is dono by means of hooks. The men work In groups and each group has Its equipment of machinery. Tho most prominent fields tiom which the Omahn harvest lo being taken are the water works reservoirs, Seymour lake, Cut-Off lake and the Missouri river, it is said that for thickness and general quality the river and lake Ice Is excellent tills winter, al though tho reservoir product Is given Hist rank. (tinii Iiii'n let CtiiiNiuii'il Inn. One Interesting feature of the Ice har vest Is tho number of horses required. One company has one stable, In which 100 horses uro kept, and other Ico-cuttern have pto portdcnately as many. For a short time In tho early part of the season, when It appeared that the cold weather might last inly a few days, the work was prosecuted day and night. Hut since the ercp has been assured night work has eenfod. The average consumption of Ico in Omaha dm lug the summer mouths Is 80,000 tons. These? figures apply only to private con sumption and not to breweries, packing houses and other concerns, whero Ice Is used In Immense quantities. AU tho pack ing houscH and breweries put up their own ice. They hnve none to sell. Tho experi ment of packing ments In artificial Ice has been tried by the packing house3. but re- by Louis II. Ikstwlck. suits wero nU satisfactory, It Is said, by t-f,iiHr,n nf tin rlimnlrnl iintlnn nn tint input. . . wnllo nrtlllclnl ice Is admittedly puro aim ,iuus not really iniuro the meat, it turns it ls lho sllam a,,p0titc8 which tho laborers is inu Blimp uppuiuua which mu ihijjiuih ,, thls Ia not restricted to tu. hlUncrSi either, for It Is acurrent story , , M , , l(Klt T n 1 - 1)0t hmsclf, has sunethlng of an appetite i. s HlllJ t0 1)0 L,,,curi,lm wj, funy preciatH gocd things to eat. Ho works as nnr() Ils Ully nnoror his o.nploy. Ho Is . ... ,1 t t . . . an cxpcri in ine ice nusiness, laving tie tho I)PBt nart ()f hl8 llf(1 lt. nll(1 '"y I LOADING ALL A HOARD FOil THIS CAHS Photo b gics out upon tho Held and takes a baud In any kind of work that comes up. Mr. Tal bot controls tho 1,000 men under his illrec tli n ns easily as some men would give o ders to half a dozen sub rdlnates. Ho han a stentorian voice that can be heard from Florence to Hanscom park, and when ho opens up his vocal valves, his men gen erally hear and heed. He Is of a kindly and jovial disposition and seemingly finds as much enjoyment fn chopping Ice ns Lincoln or Gladstone over did In amputating timber. Mr. Talbot is originally fn in Maine, where he received his first lesson In his pularic art. A popular error on tho part of tho 1 a 1 1 Is tho supposition that Ico must be en veloped In sawdust. This Ih not truo. In all of the big Ico storage houses the cakes aro placed In layers Just as they come from tho Held. Sawdust Is sprinkled over the top of tho entire heap, but not between the soparato squares. Tho Ideal Ico for con venient handling In a thickness of nbotit twelve -Inches. The crop this year ranges all tho way from eight Inches nt tho begin ning of tho cold wave to seventeen Inches at tho climax. Spicy Bits of Life Tho head clerk of tho Modern Woodmen In Kansas City prints in tho Times the fol lowing letter, which will Intorest lodgo men In general. It Is given verbatim: "Dear Sir I wrlto to Inform you that my husband was drawn Into tho organization of tho M. W. of A. In a very singular way thoy didn't tell him that It was a secret order, thereforo ho know nothing about It until ho wns taken in. ho supposed that It was similar to any Llfo Insuranco Organiza tion or business by they doing so as thoy did with him, I ns his wlfo feel that I have been damaged to tho amount of two thou sand dollnis ($2,000) will settle If you wlnh, lf wlu Hlnml 11 sult at lnw- My nervas nro badly shattered by tho u-nv thn l W ,if A Imu ilntwi l)lnun ln ...,, lw mo k,,',w ""'tween now and tho twenty fifth (25th). "It pains ino to havo to wrlto this to you but I felt It my duty In behnir of my family and myself. r t.nn i. ,.,mi , i. ,,., . , , 'n Xr ?ro I Y rl u r "rom"l,y- ,o u " truy. -p. s. Tll(y ,,, ,, nop gavo him any hint of the society but Just simply hold out tho insuranco policy." Thoy have a reporter on ono of tho llrook- ivn ,innnr, u.i,n ,., ,,,,, i, ,,, ,, , " ' "P01" 0 y 'm,cl ..n ' 'got thoro" ho is a ICE CARS AT FLORUNCIC-Photo by Louis Louis It. llostwlck. A FOURTlSKN-lNOll Jewel. A little while ago ho wns assigned to a political meeting and asked to give n good report of It. Now, It happened that tho fes tivities tvoro conducted entirely In Polish, a language) of which thu young man knows nothing. This fact, however, did not fazo him a bit. Ilo made his way through tho hall, pushed up to tho platform, and sat down with tho secreta-y. For several min utes he industriously took notes, and dually tho secretary, turning to him, pumped out a volley of I'ollth. "I nm not in It, dear boy," retorted tho young man as ho turned again to listen to tho spenker. Tho secretary looked surprised. Finally MARKING AND PLOWING Tlllf ho went out nnd brought in a man who nMkoil In Umrllult . "Aro you a Polish reporter?" "Nope," was tho reply. "I'm nn Amorl- can ono," "Do you understand our languago?" "j nuvo , d uuforu t. ret0rtcil ti10 .... ... . . , . ,' ... c,lbb er "but think I have picked up enough blnco havo been horo to give a tor And ho did. Sometimes a credit inan goes all wrong but not often. A country merchant camo up rrom Indiana with a written list of tho ... , . , . . ; ' ' wnutrd, reports the Chicago Pos. Ho said ho was now to tho business, but ho R. lloatwlck. CAK1 Photo by I.ouIh It. llostwlck meant to have a partner who was wise. After ho had picked (lit goods amounting to $S,000 ho was Introduced to tho credit man, and ho looked so uncouth and tnelllclcnt that tho credit mnu wondered how good clerks hud been wasting their time on him. "What tonus do you want, Mr. 7" Ho stopped nud tho visiter supplied tho name. "Well, down In our country wo always pay after harvest." "Hut harvest is past. You don't mean next harvest In 11)00 lo you?" "Well, that's when my peoplo will pay mo." "Oh, we couldn't do Hint. Ninety days Is the verv 1chL I cnillil elvn vim." Ami oven FIHLI) - Photo by Louis R. llostwlck at that ho wanted to know a great many things about his visitor's prospects. "How much If 1 pay all In sixty days?" Thu credit man quoted tho terms. "How much In thirty?" A discount wns mentioned. "llow much for cash?" "Spot cash? Money down?" "Yes currency." It wns a wild question. Tho credit man knew ho had no ehniico to got $8,000 out of Hint mnu nnd ho quoted a beautiful discount, "Well, receipt tho bill," wns tho country man's rejoinder. And nut from tho folds of a $3 suit of clothes ho dragged money enough to buy a yacht and run It all sum mor. Ho didn't put on much stylo, but ho "fig ures" ho saved tho expenses of his Chicago trip. Earning His First Dollar Senator Joseph V. Quarles of Wlscon-t-ln, when asked In the senate lobby how ho earned his first dollar, unhesitatingly re Plied: "Sweeping out u school house." Ho wiih asked what hu thought was tho Becret of his success and tho response camo quickly: "Work." Then ho went on to say, relates tho Chi cago Nows, that a young man thrown upon his own resources must havo a purpose as well as determination, nn object In llfo which leads him upward. "Placo no rellanco on luck," ho said, "pay as you go. I doubt that tho ad vice of somo business men to got Into debt for a homo, uven, Is good. Debts dlvurt olio's attention from his business. Young professional men should aim at tho widest and largest sphere of action and bo plucky onough to shift their abodo whenever necessary to do eo,"