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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.