Expansion of Railroads and the Ice Industry

With new technologies in refrigeration and the rise or railroads In America, farmers were now able to produce goods farther away from the point of consumption and transport them to the markets with no loss in nutritional value. The big advantage to this is that the rail cars were much faster, safer, and spacious than the traditional wagon methods used prior to the railroads. Because of this expansion, farmers increasingly moved away from city limits in search of larger land plots and better soil conditions. As business pushed westward, farming communities developed while at the same time taking advantage of the widened scope of the agricultural market. Goods could now be transported from farm to city, as well as from city to farm, which increased the span of products outside the city. From a mere 27 miles of track in 1830, the rail industry grew to more than two thousand miles by 1840.

This introduction led to a mushrooming effect regarding availability of many foods that once were quite limited. The invention of the icebox helped push this along, such as with the production and sale of dairy products and fresh meat, but it was the railroad network that really got things going on a mass scale. To put this into perspective, it would be good to take a look at the milk consumption in New York City in the 1840?s. In 1840, people who drank milk in the city consumed locally produced milk, which was bought daily. In the years of 1842-43, the Erie Railroad carried three million quarts to the city for consumption, Three years later, the quantity was twice that amount. By 1848-49, more than nine million quarts of milk were delivered to the city. (Cummings, P, 43) this pattern is not limited to just milk but practically everything else being sold in the markets. The rise in availability further influenced the growth of cities and the demand for more food, both in quality and quantity.

Throughout this time, the warm southern states were still not reaping many of the benefits of refrigeration because of the high ice prices. None the less, ice was still shipped south, a lot of the time arriving in much smaller slabs than when they were shipped out, usually being consumed by the upper class. This definitely put a restraint on the farmer's ability to produce goods to send to the markets. The tables turned however when the invention of the mechanical ice machine was brought into the picture by Professor Alexander Twinning in 1850. With complications in efficiency in the beginning, these machines were not very widespread. But once the kinks were ironed out and artificial ice manufacturing plants were established, the industry took off. Now, Ice was no longer a luxury item geographically bound the northern states of America, but could be produced anywhere at any time. This also helped improve the cleanliness of the ice, which was admired by customers and producers alike. This addition help to further expand the use of railroads.
In 1867, after years of toiling around with many designs, J.B. Sutherland patented the first refrigerated rail car. For years, inventors had tried to apply the technology of the icebox into the rail cars, but due to the lack in adequate cooling efficiency, rail cars had trouble making it long distance. This car, as seen below, consisted of an insulated car with an ice reservoir at each end with ventilation ducts on the top. While moving, air came through the top vents passing over the ice and then circulating inside the compartment by way of gravity. Hanging flaps were implemented to adjust the temperature range. This was the first step to truly efficient transportation of goods over long hauls. By 1869, the first shipment of fresh fruit was transported from the west coast to the east, beginning the age of transcontinental shipping.

The expansion of ice manufacturing plants over the course of twenty years from 1870 to 1890 effectively wiped out the natural ice harvesting industry in the north. In 1870, there were four manufacturing plants which were located in Texas, Tennessee, and Louisiana (2), The number jumped to thirty-five in the next decade, and by 1890, the number of manufacturing plants rose to two hundred and twenty-two.(Cummings, p.64) At the same time, natural ice was becoming more of a growing problem and health concern due to the many pollutants that were seeping into the water bodies used for harvesting. When mechanical production was implemented, quality control was much more easily watched. Also, with lowered prices and greater availability of ice, the southern states were able to jump in the game and compete.
Up until the early 1900's, These mechanical ice machines/refrigerators were primarily powered by outboard diesel engines, so personal household used was not terribly common. More and more though, farmers began to purchase thes machines for their farms to store any overflow of production. It' wasn't until the early 1900's that companies like Frigidare and Maytag began marketing electric refrigerators for home use. In the beginning, these were used seasonally, primarily be upper class citizens. Compared to an icebox, an electric fridge was extremely expensive to run, not to mention the costs of getting a DC outlet installed in the home.

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