The Ft. Madison Ice Company

We have been learning about all the ice taken from the Missippi River, and shipped via the Railroads to the Big Cities.

Nothing had been said about the pollution that was also becoming common. And the fruit from California, that was being produced cheaply in large quantities.

Ft. Madison was ideally located to take advantage of this. It had an ice plant that produced pure ice, that could be loaded directly into the refrigerated fruit cars from California. These could then proceed directly to NYC, DC, and Boston.

I knew an Italian family in NYC that got a barrel of grapes every year, from which they made wine for their large family.

Grapes and wine were also produced in New York State, but could not compete with the California products!