Ghost Stories of Big Spring: Ice House
to ice each car with a daily manufacturing capacity of 170 tons.
By 1930, over 6000 cars were being iced yearly. Each car required at least one ton of ice per stop. The re-icing points were Fort Worth, Big Spring, and El Paso. There had to be plenty of storage capacity at the plant, since it would be impossible to produce enough ice to service the train cars daily.
In 1930 the ice plant was enlarged to allow for more storage capacity. The remodel included taking out the old steam powered machines and replacing them with diesel.
Before the electric refrigerator, the icehouse was a favorite place for the early day residents. Ice cold watermelons and cantaloupes were sold there and even the children’s Easter eggs were stored there so they remained fresh for the bunny.
By 1947, the Southern Ice Manufacturing, boasted that “every pound of ice delivered was purer than the water you drink. City water which is plenty pure is treated and forced with high pressure sand and gravel filters before going to iced cans placed in a brine at 11-12 degrees. Air agitates the water as it freezes causing any minerals or impurities to come to the core which is poured off and refilled with pure water.”