Ice Plant
Ice Plant, Cold Storage

"Llano Colonist," December 19, 1927

"We have an excellent ice business with neighboring towns and people and our cold storage rooms, being the only ones in this vicinity, has an extensive business, being patronized by outside business men and farmers. We are already contemplating on doubling the capacity of [this] most useful and serviceable plant."

"Llano Colonist," September 15, 1928

"Once again I want to bring our ice and cold storage plant before you, before the cool weather steps in to lessen our trade. At present we are selling every pound of ice we make, apart from what we use ourselves. It takes quite a crew to handle this plant as you see our whole electrical power and light service is operated in connection with the ice plant. Homer and Ted take on the responsibility of keeping the electricity moving and the wiring attended to. Our ice factory men however are the ones who tend the plant day and night along with their ice making. Armacost and Fischer run the plant from 7 am until 3 pm. They make the ice, run the power plant and wait on customers. Comrade Moore and Fred Busick take the next shift and render the same service from 3 pm to 11 pm, when Warren Fread and Chas. Wichmann take their turn at the same work. They keep this factory going night and day at this time of the year and in this way we have electricity for the whole place any time of the day or night.

We have two units of power a Fairbanks-Morris twin Diesel engine connected up to an electric generator that does most of the work at this time of the year; also, there is a steam engine and generator that can give the same service and power at any time we wish to change from the oil engine. In case we need more power we can use both units at the same time. We have storage room for one carload of ice and five car loads of meat, vegetables and other things that need cold storage. It is probable that we may have to enlarge both these plants next year if we have the workmen and the time to spare to do the work. Any way our business at this plant is such that we see our neighbors using it more and more.

We have three trucks that deliver ice into Leesville every day and we send six men with these trucks. Mickey and Kenneth Thurman, Hamil and R. Daugherty, L. Fread and E. Daugherty make up the teams of delivery men. Three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays one of these trucks goes south of Newllano as far as Rosepine, 15 miles away. They sell ice all along the road and to several small towns on the way. There is quite a local history attached to our ice plant work that could tell a story of attempted competition, but I guess it would not be best to tell all state secrets, but we know our position is stronger than most people realize and we know that no one can compete successfully against co-operators in the field of production.

We have at this time, hogsheads of sauerkraut, tons of meat, vegetables, seeds, jellies, preserved and canned foods for our future use. The cold storage plant offers an opportunity for us to some day expand our activities by installing a creamery and ice cream factory and possibly a cheese factory. All of this is in the near future as our dairy is enlarged and our neighbors develop more modern farm methods of running them. Yes, we still claim to be pioneering and we are in many ways, yet we have the most modern ice and cold storage plant in this part of the south and an electrical plant that any one could be proud of. Newllano is one hundred per cent electrified in its homes. In this respect at the head of the list in Louisiana."

"Llano Colonist," January 3, 1931

"In front of the sawmill and facing the railroad track is one of the most up-to-the-minute Ice Plants and Cold storage. It is complete in every detail and works as near automatically as anything of that nature could work. Ice is used in the colony -- free -- and sold to outsiders and the customers in Leesville are staunch and regular.

"Llano Colonist", April 8, 1933 (Story of Llano)

"Further progress on the ice plant job was marked on April 9th [1925] by the arrival of four car-loads of refrigerating machinery."

[After a fire on April 14, 1925 destroyed the newly built Industrial Building] "within a week, the cleaned brick from the burned building was being used to complete the ice plant.

The construction work on the cold storage plant building was finished on May 15th and on June 20th the first ice test was made. On July 3rd the plant was put into regular operation; and in the following month the completion of the mechanical equipment and connections made possible the operation of the entire plant of ice manufacture and cold storage. The cash income from the ice plant from that time forward became a prominent factor in the economic life of the colony, approximating the sum of $10,000 per year."

"Llano Colonist", May 23, 1936

"Huge Ice Plant Runs Steadily Day and Night -- Each Storage Room Has Capacity of Over 45,000 Pounds of Ice; Cold Storage Department Valuable Asset To Community -- If you want to cool off on some of these warm days, just go over to the Colony Ice Plant and ask Ernie Proudhon, department manager to show you into one of the storage rooms where you will be surrounded by 45,000 pounds of ice. There are two of these rooms and if one doesn't cool you off you can try another one; this should bring your temperature down to normal at least. Or mayhaps you can watch the boys "pull ice," as they call it, in the freezing room, where the three-hundred-pound cakes are lifted up and removed from the tanks; this should also prove refreshing on a hot day.

After these tanks have been emptied the boys refill them with water and insert them in their positions for the next freezing which takes between thirty-six and forty-eight hours. A few hours before the water in these tanks is frozen into a solid mass a tube is inserted in the center of each and all impurities which have congregated in the center of the cakes are pumped out. Fresh water is then inserted, covers adjusted, and in a short time the cakes are frozen solid and are ready to be removed.

The plant runs day and night and at present only five men are employed there: Fred Busick, F. Gossett, Andy Maddigan, Ernie Eckstrom and Manager Ernie Proudhon.

One of this number, Mr. Gossett, has charge of the cold storage department for meat. There are two storage rooms for this purpose, one for curing and one for meat after it has been smoked. Gossett also manages the smoke house located a hundred feet away from the ice plant. The smoke room has a capacity for one ton of meat but at present there are only eight hundred pounds being smoked. This meat is owned by people of the surrounding communities who furnish their own transportation. Gossett takes care of the whole process of preparing the meat for use; from the salting and curing in cold storage to the smoke house, then back to cold storage to await the owners. This meat curing business has been a valuable asset to the entire community.

The busy season for the ice business is just starting, and if business continues to increase as rapidly the next few weeks as it has in the past, another truck will be needed, Manager Proudhon says, to make deliveries.

The Deisel and Ridgeway engines at the plant were recently overhauled by Chester Peecher and Dad Ribbing, and the management states that the engines have never been in better running condition. These engines have to be fed eight thousand gallons of oil every three months, and ten gallons of lubricating oil every five days. (Hungry motors!)

Among recent improvements at the plant is a new door for the ice room made by Mr. Bartlett of the carpentry department. At present he is building new lattice work for the porch. Chester Peecher is busy overhauling the water pump this week and paint was purchased for the engines, the pump, the office and the porch; so the ice plant will be "decked up to kill" in just a short while.

It should be one of the most attractive places around, with new colors, a little carpentry and the rock garden beside the office which Manager Proudhon takes great pride in as he planted all the flowers himself. O yes, his office always has plenty of roses, honeysuckle, and numerous other flowers adorning its quarters. As Ernie has often said, his helpers sit in the office now and then nibbling a five-cent sandwich while in front on a table is a five-dollar bouquet of roses.

You are welcome to visit the ice plant any day you wish. It is open day and night seven days a week, so there is no danger of not finding anybody at home when you call."

"Changes At Ice Plant -- The ice is of a better quality these days since the new rubber tubing has been secured, and of a better clarity, too. We mean more crystal-like and nicer to look at. And is the business picking up? Ice is being pulled at every shift and the Ridgeway is kept running from nine in the morning 'til twelve at night. And does Chester Peecher keep an ever watchful eye on it?

The V-8, driven by Lionel Crossland, is kept on the jump, we men on the road, delivering the frozen substance to Many, and Freddie Busick keeps the wheels of the Cheve' going 'round and 'round delivering at Leesville."