Grantville Gazette, Volume 40 (37 page)

You need 1.2 kg ice to chill 10 kg fish from 10
^o
C down to 0
^o
C, 2.3 from 20
^o
C, 3.4 from 30. More ice is needed to keep them cold. How much more depends on the length of the trip, but "it is a generally accepted 'rule of thumb minimum' to use an ice to fish ratio of 1:1 in the tropics." (Shawyer 43). For temperate waters, a one week trip will require 0.35
–
0.5 tons ice for 1 ton fish. (FAO).

Note that round, small, fatty, thin-skinned or damaged fish spoil faster than their opposites (Shawyer 5). Typical shelf lives (on ice) are 2
–
24 days (marine temperate), 6
–
25 (marine tropical), 9
–
17 (freshwater temperate), and 6
–
40 (freshwater tropical). More specifically, we have 9
–
15 days for cod, 7
–
18 for flounder, 21
–
24 for halibut, and 3
–
8 for temperate water sardine. (6).

As with rail transport, there's a choice between placing fish and ice in insulated boxes (typical for small open boats even today) or in an insulated hold. Insulation considerations are similar to those for ice houses and refrigerated cars, but bear in mind that a fishing vessel is likely to be at sea longer than a train is in transit.

Long-distance shipment of frozen fish from the fishing fleet's home port to customers is also possible. However, the customers who are willing to pay the most for fish are likely to be those who reside inland, who otherwise couldn't enjoy seawater fish at all, not those in some other port (at least until people can afford to pay for exotic fish).

"The first attempt to ship meat across the oceans was carried out by Bell in 1877. The refrigeration process was achieved by ice containers filled with natural ice, circulating a current of air through the ice by means of a fan." Mechanical refrigeration was first used on the Australia-Britain route in 1879. (Blain 26).

Distribution

Ice was transported to a port city or railroad nexus, and held in a large ice house for sale and distribution to the ultimate consumers. There were two different distribution strategies. In what I'll call the "will call" system, the consumer came to the ice house and carried off the ice purchased. In what I'll call the "delivery" system, the customers placed orders, and the ice was delivered by ice wagons or trucks to the customers' doors.

Long-Term Cold Storage of Perishables

Marks (19
–
17) provides optimal storage temperatures for many different products. There are three problems with long-term (months to years) storage of perishables: (1) natural ice doesn't chill them enough to halt decay, (2) cooling with ice tends to lead to high humidity conditions, which encourages the growth of mold, and (3) foods release odoriferous gases which can contaminate other foods. (These considerations apply, to a lesser degree, to icebox design.)

Now, in the nineteenth century, people tolerated food spoilage to some degree. Fish would be sold after a month's storage at 1
–
2°C; nowadays fish would be thrown out if stored more than a few days at that temperature. (Freidberg 30). The down-timers might initially have a similar attitude to preserved foods, but of course the up-timers are going to be quite strident on the issue of food quality.

With regard to humidity and odor, it helps to put the ice overhead, as on "reefer" cars, and encourage air circulation, and also to conduct it over drying agents such as calcium chloride. Still, having direct circulation of air between the ice and the food guarantees that there will be a constant battle on the humidity front.

The existence of these problems doesn't mean that this niche can only be filled by artificial refrigeration. The trick is to combine chemical generation of sub-zero temperatures with indirect cooling. In the Cooper gravity brine system (453ff), you had a freezing tank on the upper floor, that was filled with broken ice and a suitable salt. Brine was circulated through primary coils in the freezing tank, and secondary coils in the cooling room on the lower floor. Since the brine in the primary coils was colder, it was denser, and would sink down to the secondary coils. The brine here would cool the room by absorbing heat, and thus would become less dense, and rise up to the primary coils. Of course, this density-driven circulation could be assisted by a pump.

Brine temperatures of 5
–
20
^o
F were obtainable, and the room could be cooled to 10
–
15
^o
F. Because the ice and the brine do not come in contact with the air in the cooling room, they don't increase its humidity, and indeed condensation of moisture on the secondary coils will tend to dry the air there. Air circulation is encouraged by creating separate paths for air to rise and fall, as in the Chase reefer system or the Dexter house system (448). A fan may be used to increase air circulation.

I very much doubt that there's any description of this system in Grantville Literature, so the question is whether it will be re-invented.

Marketing

While I have shown that there were plenty of ice users in the seventeenth century, please note that there was medical opposition to drinking chilled beverages both before (Piero Nati, 1576) and after (Louis Lemery, 1702) our time period.

In the nineteenth-century Caribbean, the inhabitants didn't quite know what to do with ice, and sales were slow. One of Tudor's suggestions to his icehouse keepers was to "offer bartenders free ice and persuade them to serve customers cold drinks at the same price as those that were unchilled." Once the customers were hooked, he could start charging for the ice. (Weightman 93).

By the turn of the nineteenth century, stored local ice was a commonplace in England. In 1804, Cassandra Austen wrote to sister Jane, complaining of an ice famine in Weymouth, to which Jane responded tartly, "for every other vexation I was in some measure prepared . . . but for there being no ice what could prepare me." (David 328).

The Wenham Lake Ice Company began its marketing barrage by sending a block of ice to Victoria and Albert (who became high-profile customers) and then displaying a massive block of ice in the window of their store on the Strand. This block of ice appeared indestructible . . . because in off-hours it was replaced by fresh ice from underground storage. (David 339).

The goodwill that developed for the "Wenham Lake" appellation became something of a disadvantage when that lake (located in Massachusetts) proved incapable of satisfying all the British demand; Wenham Lake itself never produced more than 10,000 tons/year.(Wightman 192) The Company had the Norwegian Lake Oppegaard, near Kristiania, rechristened "Lake Wenham" for commercial purposes. (347).

Nineteenth-century France and Italy were tougher sells. In the cities, consumers were accustomed to buy fresh and eat everything they bought the same day. (Freidberg 27ff).

Economics

In India, the ice made by the nineteenth century evaporative process I described earlier was known, rather derogatively, as "Hooghly slush," and the 1830s it was available only at a price of four pence a pound. Thanks to Frederick Tudor's entrepreneurship, New England ice could be obtained in Calcutta in 1833 at a delivered price of 3.5 pence a pound. (David 258).

According to Weightman (49), what made possible the ice trade to India was that Boston ships had little in the way of cargo to convey there; the voyage was paid for by the sale of Indian goods back home. Hence, the ice could travel, very cheaply, "in ballast." In 1870, almost $100,000 worth of ice was exported to India, but artificial refrigeration eventually became practical and by 1880 that trade had declined to only about $5,000. (David 272).

Curiously, warm countries were not the biggest market for ice. Rather, it was cool countries that had short but hot summers. In 1890, the biggest ice consumers were the United States and Russia.

At its peak, the natural ice trade was big business. In 1879, the American harvest was eight million tons, and the ice sold for about $4/ton. The biggest market was New York, and the cost of shipping ice there from Maine was $1.50/ton (breakdown was 20 cents cut and store, 50 cents transfer to ship, 50 cents ocean freight to NY, 30 cents unload—Hall 21). In 1875, 50,000 tons of Boston ice was exported to India, China, Indonesia and Japan. (David 279).

The per capita consumption of ice is dependent to some degree on whether it's priced to be affordable to all, and also on whether ice is simply used at home or also by businesses. In 1880 America, which may be considered a mature market, the twenty largest cities (total population 5,930,000) consumed 3,961,000 tons of ice, which works out to two-thirds ton per person. Another 200 smaller communities, located in the "ice belt," are believed to have consumed about one-quarter ton per person, with less in the way of industrial use. (Hall 5).

Over the long term, prices dropped, thanks to increased supply, but profits rose, thanks to increased demand. In the 1840s, Macgregor (987) wrote, "Formerly, ice sold in New Orleans for six cents (threepence) per lb., and now sells for one cent (one halfpenny) per lb.; but more money is made from the increased consumption at one cent than was made at six cents." Tudor first sold ice in Charleston at 8 1/3 cents/pound. (Weightman 78).

In the short term, the price of ice varied a great deal, depending on the severity of the previous winter and the size of the lots purchased. Ice shortages led to high prices, which encouraged construction of new ice houses and vigorous harvesting of ice the following year, and that in turn to an ice glut and low prices. While profits were then low, the low prices encouraged increased consumption, and some of the increment remained even after prices rose again.

During the Hudson ice famine of 1880, despite a supply of "old" ice in the storehouses, the wholesale price rose from $1.50/ton in January to $12/ton in August for large consumers (families briefly paid $20/ton). The next winter was severe and the wholesale price even in the summer was $1.50
–
2/ton, with small consumers paying $4
–
8/ton. (Hall 27).

In Cincinnati, a canal-boat load of 60 tons cost $4
–
6/ton on average in summer; $2
–
2.50 in a good ice year; $10 in a bad one. In 1880, if you bought 100 pounds at a time, as might a hotel or saloon, you paid $14
–
16/ton, and a household paid $20. In an abundant year the latter might pay $6
–
7 in winter and $10
–
12 in summer. (Hall 31). In Chicago, in a high supply year, ice sold for $1.50
–
2/ton for the RR carload, $2
–
3 for the wagon load; $4
–
6 for a 100 pound lot. "At retail the price in summer is always a little more than double the one which rules in the winter." (34).

Transport costs and associated ice losses also affected the delivered price. In the Gulf Coast states, the wholesale price on the coast was $10
–
30/ton in 1880, but the price to consumers inland was $60
–
75/ton. (Hall 35). At San Francisco, the price of Alaskan ice was initially $100
–
120/ton retail, but after the Southern Pacific Railroad opened up the Sierras, ice could be had for $40/ton. (Hall, 37).

Competition

Between Natural Ice Companies
. Nothing illustrates the sometimes cutthroat nature of ice industry competition better than the "Wisconsin Ice War." The Wisconsin Lakes Ice and Cartage Company had long harvested ice from the MilwaukeeRiver. With great fanfare, the Pike and North Lake Company built large ice houses on the shores of various remote lakes, and advised the public that their ice would be clean, unlike that of the WLICC. Much to their dismay, the PNLC discovered that agents of the WLICC had acquired the rights of way between the PNLC lakes and the railroad, and refused to allow the PNLC's ice to pass. The PNLC management outfitted a steam launch as an icebreaker, and advertised "river excursions" on the MilwaukeeRiver. For six weeks, to the oom-pah-pah of a brass band, the launch plowed back and forth through the ice that the WLICC had intended to harvest, breaking it into useless fragments. The "excursionists" on board the vessel were husky laborers, armed with pike poles to repel WLICC boarders. The result was the ruin of the WLICC ice crop. (Lawrence 264).

From Artificial Refrigeration
. The natural ice trade came to an end because its costs rose (the harvesters had to venture further and further afield to find unpolluted ice) while the cost of artificial refrigeration dropped. (Weightman 10).

Early refrigeration equipment was massive, totally impractical for household use. Hence, artificial refrigeration was used to manufactured blocks of ice, which would then be distributed and used in the same manner as natural ice. The advantage that artificial refrigeration had was that the machines could be in the same cities as the customers, so shipping costs were minimized.

But cost was the critical factor; in America, artificial refrigeration factories needed to be able to supply ice at $2
–
3/ton in order to compete. (Hall 20). In remote destinations, they had more of an edge; the American ice trade to India dried up after 1880.