Incidents and Anecdotes of Early Days and History of Business in the City and County of Fond Du Lac From Early Times to the Present, Personal Reminiscences, Remarkable Events, Election Results, Military History, Etc.

              HAPPENINGS HERE AND THERE
Matters Which Were Talked About in the Pioneer Days.    Some of
Then Interesting, Some Valuable from a Business
Point of View.
Early Days' Ice Business.
It was not until 1858 that Fond du Lac people had ice delivered at their houses from a Avagon, and the first man to do this work here was A. W. Chapman, who lives on West Johnson street. He deliv¬ ered ice the first two years from an open, one horse wagon, and during the first year there was not an ice box or refrigerator in Fond du Lac. The first ice boxes he saw were made of two store boxes, one a little smaller than the other, put inside and the space filled with sawdust. The second year I. S. Sherwood, the hardware dealer, got a few refrigerators from the east and a German cabinet maker made a few here. The second year Mr. Chapman had a competitor, who bought him out at the end of the next year, paying him $800 simply to keep off the street with ice.
His first year's sales were $250 and the last year $3,500. In 1857 M. Van Dresar had a meat market and C. B. Bartlett worked for him. In this market was the first ice box used for keeping meat in a market in hot weather. It was a very crude arrangement compared with the present, but it was not very long after this that Mr. Murphy, still a resident here, began to manufacture a sensible meat market ice box, and is making them yet. He has put some into markets in the Lake Superior country, that cost several thousand dollars. His ice boxes for this purpose have proven remarkably successful. The wonderful success of the Gurney and Bowen refrigerators in Fond du Lac is well known. The North Pole refrigerator, made here many years ago in large numbers, by E. Perkins, failed only because it had to give place to more profitable manufactures.
It is not regarded now as a difficult undertaking to keep ice through the summer, but fifty years ago it was thought necessary to excavate a resting place for it in the side of a hill, or resort to some other equally expensive method to preserve it from melting. Now d barn or shed and a little sawdust is all that is needed. Lake Winne¬ bago and Lake de Neveu give us an abundant supply of pure ice and thousands of tons are cut here some winters by Chicago and Milwau¬ kee dealers.
Disobedience of Orders.
It is remembered by many who now reside here, that some years ago when Conductor DePue ran the passenger train daily between Fond du Lac and Milwaukee, his two children and servant girl were