1852, 
THE CULTIVATOR 
141 
The Ice Trade. 
Editors Cultivator —A view of the methods of cut¬ 
ting and storing ice, in the vicinity of Boston, and of plac¬ 
ing it in vessels for exportation to distant ports, is well 
worth a journey of one hundred miles. I spent a day 
of the very fine weather of the first week in February, 
at Fresh Pond, Cambridge, near Boston, observing the 
processes of the ice business, and learning its statistics 
and capacity as a branch of commerce. It is a large, 
and emphatically a brilliant business. A substance so 
perishable, and ordinarily so valueless as ice, becoming 
an article of profitable exportation to the principal ports 
in warm climates, often in its voyages twice crossing the 
Equator; the numbers of men and horses engaged in se¬ 
curing ice, all putting forth their utmost activity ,• the 
long trains of the railroads, employed in transporting it 
to the wharves for shipment; the number and variety of 
vessels in the harbor receiving or preparing to receive 
their ice cargoes,—all conspire to impress the reflecting 
observer with wonder and enthusiasm. 
Frederic Tudor, Esq., of Boston, is distinguished as 
the original projector of the ice trade of the United 
States. In 1805, at the early age of twenty-two years, 
Mr. Tudor conceived the idea of making ice an article of 
commerce, and forthwith commenced arrangements for 
taking a cargo to the West Indies. His enterprise found 
little favor with others, and no one being willing to re¬ 
ceive so novel a freight on shipboard, he purchased the 
brig Favorite, of 130 tons, loaded her at Gray’s wharf, 
in Charlestown, with ice cut in Linn, now Saugus, about 
seven miles distant from the wharf. The Favorite sailed 
on the 13th of February, 1806, with Mr. Tudor on board, 
arriving at St. Pierre, Martinique, in twenty days, with 
her cargo in perfect condition. The experiment resulted 
in a loss, of about $2,700; but Mr. Tudor being natural¬ 
ly inclined to far-reaching views and plans, and to an 
energy and decision of purpose not to be baffled by the 
obstacles it met, made other shipments with various suc¬ 
cess, until the embargo and war of 1812 put an end to 
his business. After the war closed, in 1815, he negotia¬ 
ted a contract with the government of Cuba, under which 
a good ice business was pursued at Havana. Shipments 
were made to other ports in the West Indies, in some 
cases attended with profit, and in others with loss. In 
1817, he extended the trade to Charleston, S. U.j in 
1818, to Savannah, Ga.; and to New Orleans in 1820. 
The shipments of ice to ports coastwise and in the 
West Indies, slowly but steadily increased, and in the 
year 1833, Mr. Tudor succeeded in extending the busi¬ 
ness to the East Indies, by safely landing a cargo at Cal¬ 
cutta. He afterwards shipped ice to Bombay, Madras, 
and to various ports in India and China, and fully demon¬ 
strated that this perishable article could be made to pass 
a voyage of five months, through various climates, cross¬ 
ing the equator twice, landing safely at its destined port, 
and might there be preserved throughout the year. 
Up to the year 1832, the ice trade had been mostly 
conducted by its original projector, the total amount of 
the shipments that year being something over 4,000 tons 
of ice, all of which was taken from Fresh Pond. Many 
perplexities, discouragements, and heavy expenses wer'e 
experienced in placing the business upon a permanent 
footing. The implements and machines for cutting and 
preparing ice for storage and shipment, for hoisting it into 
the ice-houses, or on board ship, must be invented, and 
afterwards improved, or thrown aside for such others as 
increasing experience determined to be better; ice-houses, 
at home and abroad, must be built, and the mode of con¬ 
struction best calculated to preserve the ice .could be deter¬ 
mined only by expensive experiment; the cheapest and 
best mode of transporting ice from the ponds or ice-houses 
to the ships, and from them, when arriveda to the des¬ 
tined port, to proper storage again, must be ascertained; 
the preparation of vessels for receiving and preserving 
cargoes during long voyages through warm climates, was 
the subject of many experiments,involving great expense; 
and added to the rest, the owners of vessels objected to 
a freight of ice, under an impression that it would injure 
their vessels, and hazard the safety of voyages. Notwith¬ 
standing these discouragements, and the many early dis¬ 
asters to which Mr. Tudor was subjected, he persevered 
in his operations, has continued in the trade up to the 
present time, and now, forty-six years after his first voy¬ 
age to Martinique, is considered one of the rich men of 
his native town. 
The difficulties experienced in the early operations of 
the ice trade, are now in a good degree overcome; its 
methods are highly excellent; more ice is now taken in 
one favorable day than in 1832 would have been neces¬ 
sary to supply the whole trade; many enterprising par¬ 
ties are now engaged in the business; it has more than 
doubled in importance within the six years last past; and 
notwithstanding it has now reached a yearly exportation 
tion of 100,000 tons, Mr. Tudor and others consider it 
as yet in infancy, capable of great enlargement. The 
quantity of ice used in old markets is steadily increasing, 
and new markets are constantly opening to receive it. Its 
use in New-Orleans has grown from 300 tons in 1820, to 
30,000 tons in 1851,—or to nearly one-third of the whole 
shipment from Boston. Fresh and Spy Ponds for many 
years supplied all the ice the trade wanted; but within 
the past few years, operations have been extended to a 
dozen or more ponds not far from Boston, and ice houses 
have been erected on their shores, of a capacity, in the 
aggregate, for storing a great quantity of ice. Gentle¬ 
men engaged in the trade are of opinion that in a few 
years more, the product of nearly all the waters around 
Boston will be required, to supply the demand. 
The shipments of Ice from Boston, coastwise and to 
foreign ports, during the year 1851, were as follows: 
Tons. 
Easl Indies,... 11,508 
London,. 531 
Liverpool,. 816 
Rio Janeiro,. 2,1821 
Kingston,. 1,782 
St. Thomas,. 1,144 
Gibraltar,. 476 
Alexandria. Egypt,. 373 
Marseilles,!. 1151 
Cape Town,. 350 
Barbadoes,.. 7021 
Pernambuco,. 189 
Sisal,. 350 
St. Vincents,. 353 
Havana,. 5,520 
St. Jago,. 605 
Ice used in Boston and vicinity, in 1851, about,. 30,000 
Thus the ice trade has succeeded in converting a rapid¬ 
ly wasting, and ordinarily valueless substance, into a pro¬ 
duction of large commercial importance, affording a 
handsome return to the parties engaged in its prosecu¬ 
tion. It furnishes inhabitants of countries contiguous to 
the equator, with a grateful, and now indispensable lux¬ 
ury, both in sickness and health. It has thereby signal¬ 
ly and powerfully promoted temperance in the use of 
strong drinks; for before its extension to those countries, 
their insipid waters were rarely used as a beverage, 
strong drinks being a universal substitute; now, iced-wa¬ 
ter is the most grateful beverage, and is freely used. Day 
laborers and teamsters with their horses, find employ¬ 
ment in cutting and storing ice, at a dull season, when 
they most need work, from which they annually realise 
as much as $100,000. Ship owners now derive from the 
trade at least $200,000 each year. The State of Maine 
furnishes the saw-dust used in preparing vessels to receive 
ice, and in packing it, from which her people receive an¬ 
nually $15,000; and she also furnishes lumber for the 
same purpose, for which they get $15,000. Railroads 
earn from the transport of ice some $50,000. The 
traders to India and China get about $35,000. Machin¬ 
ists and blacksmiths receive $2,000 per annum, and the 
tax-gatherer comes in for his share. Orchardists now 
transport fruits to India in ice, which they once could 
not do, and from which they derive 10 to $15,000 each 
year. Perishable vegetables are sent in great variety to 
Tons. 
Trinidad,. 265 
Matanzas,. 492 
Porto Rico,. 1,175 
Demarara,. 630 
Chagres,. 191 
Nassau,. 300 
Vera Cruz. 100 
Fayal,. 11 
San Juan,. 15 
Provinces,. IS 
Porto Cabello,. 35 
San Francisco,. 987 
Southern Ports,. 68,361-1 
Total,. 99,578 
