LEGAL AND SANITARY MATTERS.
Ice Privileges and Legal Points--Artificial Ice Ponds and Sanitary
Care of Ice Ponds and Fields.
Attention is now being given to the sanitary condition of the sources
from whence supplies of natural ice are obtained. Ice sold for domestic
uses and cut from canal water, must, in New York, be so labeled.
Agitation in this direction has led to the prohibition of ice cutting
on specified polluted waters, by some boards of health, for any other
than cooling purposes. In several States the ice crop is protected by
the enactment of laws which make it a misdemeanor to destroy or injure
ice in the field where it is to be cut.
No doubt the preservation of the purity of our streams and lakes will
receive more care in the future, as sanitary knowledge becomes more
widely diffused.
LAKES FED BY SPRINGS, and having clean beds, have naturally risen in
value for ice cutting purposes. Running streams, especially those with
a rapid current, purify their waters very rapidly. Exposure to light
and air, the influence of oxygen, and the motion of the water, all
assist in this good office. Foreign substances are expelled from the
ice in the process of freezing, and streams of this character, not
polluted by the presence of sewerage, waste products from factories,
packing houses, gas works, etc., produce ice of great purity.
THE OWNERSHIP OF ICE FIELDS has been a bone of contention in many
instances, where a knowledge of the legal rights involved would have
saved expensive litigation. In a general way, ice cutting rights
are divided into two classes. Ice on navigable waters is under the
authority of the national government. “Navigable,” in this instance,
being used to denote tide water, the proprietary rights of owners of
the abutting property are limited to the water line at high tides.
On all such waters, navigation being closed, the ice is free and
is secured by pre-emption, the first one to stake out claims being
entitled to cut the ice. In contentions over boundaries of ice fields,
where the issue is in doubt, the ice dealer whose property forms the
water front is given the preference.
Rivers, small lakes and navigable streams above tide water are termed
public. The boundary line of abutting property is held to extend under
the water to the center of the channel, and includes the ownership
of the ice formed above it. Public convenience for navigation and
commerce, however, take precedence. The rights to this ice are thus
subject to contract and sale. The submerged land may also be sold, and
all deeds to water front property should clearly set forth the boundary
line and all the rights that are guarded and reserved.
WHERE DAMS ARE BUILT across streams and the water line is raised on
property beyond the limits of that held by the owner of the dam,
consent must be obtained from the holders of property thus affected.
There are numerous creeks and brooks which are fed by springs, or have
their source in spring lakes, which make excellent ice fields, with
very little labor or expense. Advantage may be taken of low lands in
the vicinity of such streams. Gravel forms the best bed for ice ponds,
as it is free from weeds. In some of our lakes, occurring in districts
abounding in gravel, the water is pure and sweet and the gravelly bed
can be seen at great depths. Springs are usually numerous in such
localities.
The following methods of preparing dams can be employed in some
situations. The depth of the pond and the force of the current of the
stream are to be taken into account in fixing upon the proportions and
construction of dams. Also the quantity of water usually running into
the pond and the largest amount likely to be received during a season
of flood. If the soil is a light loam, or a seam of gravel is near the
surface, dig a trench down to a hard bottom, and on the pond side drive
in a row of stout boards, breaking joints and sloping them toward the
dam. Behind this paling fill in with clay rammed down. A crib formed of
logs notched and bolted together, and lined or faced with plank on pond
side, should be set at the rear of the sub-paling. This crib is filled
with stones and clay or sand. The front is banked up with earth and
covered with rip-rap.
The center of the dam is provided with a sluiceway large enough to
carry off flood waters, and, at the bottom, a pipe or a box well bedded
in cement gives a current on the bottom which carries off sediment. It
is also useful in taking off air and gases, which, arising from the
bottom, form air bubbles in the ice. Some water should always pass over
the upper sluiceway.
Dams may be formed entirely of an embankment of earth and stone. Their
base should not be less than their height, with increased thickness
where pressure from a current has to be resisted. Shallow dams may be
formed by driving two rows of plank across the line of the dam, and
filling in the inclosed space with rammed clay. Break joints in the
planking, and bolt stringers along the top edges to bind them firmly
together.
IN CHANGING THE COURSE OF STREAMS, cut the new channel deeper than the
old one, to insure the current following it. Straightening or changing
the course of a stream will often improve the topography of a farm and
drain wet or marsh land.
Food fish, which can readily be raised in these ponds, forms a welcome
addition to the family larder.
THE PURITY OF BROOKS which feed ice and fish ponds should be preserved.
No filth should be dumped into them or on their banks. Stables and
cesspools should not be situated where they will drain into them.
Vegetable refuse and litter, which may be brought down with the
current, should be caught by screens and removed from time to time, or
they will accumulate in the pond and injure it.