_—

|recalled today that
|Turner owned the first ice busi-

,| crusher,

 

 

Recall Time When Ice Was Cut

 

From Lakes and Streams Here

 

Frank Goodman Recalls “Old
Bob” Turner on Spring Branch
‘Road as Well as Many Others—
Great Progress in Industry.

 

A few years ago a freeze like the
present one would have been look-
ed upon by at least one local in-
dustry as a blessing. The ice in-
dustry of a few years back smiled
broadly when heavy freezes, came.

Frank Goodman, engineer of the
Independence Ice & Creamery Co.
“Old Bob”

ness here, Years and years ago

| Bob ‘Turner, Sr., had an ice house

on the Spring Branch Road some-

-|where near the site of. the rock
Ice was..cut. from the
‘| Spring Branch and from lakes in
_|the neighborhood.

George Schulze was the first ice

[man to make his, own equipment
‘lin this city. Not having a suitable

water supply available, Schulze
built an artificial lake at the
southeast corner of West. South
Avenue and Osage Street. A part
of the old lake dam still stands
there today.

“Young Bob” Turner made his
appearance in the ice business and
used the old McCoy Lake (Doutt’s
Lake) as a source of ice. The
Dickinson Lakes were used by
Ray, and W. B. Dickinson to sup-
ply their ice house. The May
Grain & Coal Company also en-
tered the ice business while it was,
still in the natural ice stage.

When no natural ice was avail-
able here it was shipped in by
rail from northern communities.
Delivery of ice.in the early days
did not have the finesse and tech-
nique of the modern delivery
service,
yard with a shout of “Ice” and the

customer had to hustle out and'.

recover the cake of ice, wash it
and carry it inside, _

-In the old days the ice was
sawed with odd-looking saws. The
cakes varied in size according to
the thickness of the ice on the
lake. Some icemen drove a horse
out onto the lake and “plowed”
the ice both ways with an ice
plow. This plow did not cut all
of' the way through and the cakes
were broken off with pike poles
by workmen who floated them to

|a chute where they were hauled

up into the ice house and stored
in sawdust.

In 1905 W. O. Porter, J. B. Hat-
ten, J. M. Burgner and Randolph
Jones: built the first artificial ice
plant. It had a capacity of thirty-
five tons per day and used dis-
tilled water, which cost much

 

Ice was tossed into the |,

more than the raw water used
today. In 1913 a 2,000-ton storage
house was added to the plant, The
plant was increased to 100-ton ca-
pacity in 1915 but in 1925 a 60-ton
raw water plant was added to the
equipment.

The present modern: plant of 108
tons daily capacity was changed
from steam operation to electrifi-
cation in 1932. About the same
time many of the old gadgets
around the ice plant were replaced
by more up-to-date stuff. Gone
are the old brass scales that hung
on the back of the wagon. A
scoring machine has made them
no longer a necessity. The fine
broad-backed horses have been
replaced by trucks which move
about too fast for the modern kid
to get a chance to filch a- small
piece of ice on a hot day. Time
was when sneaking a small piece
of ice off of the back of a wagor
was gute a sport on a hot oer

Rt ee

te

 

tH ei TS