Los Banos Rotary Club History
Vajretti Tells Of Melon Industry

Joe Vajaretti, local district manager of the Union Ice Company, Tuesday noon gave members of the Rotary Club an interesting insight into the local melon industry and cited its importance to this community.

Hailing the West Side, from Los Banos to Mendota, as one of the most important cantaloupe raising sections of the state. Vajretti related that whereas the famed Imperial valley was once considered the melon basket of the state, the central California section now produces 62 per cent of the state's total crop. Last year 3,668 cars of melons were shipped from Imperial valley, while Fresno and Merced counties alone shipped 7200 cars.
An important factor in this increased production and sustained demand, Vajretti said, is the fact that today New York householders can buy California melons at their local grocery that are virtually vine-ripened. Back in the 1930s growers picked their melons almost green so they would withstand the long trip east. About 1940 the growers started to pre-cool the cars, taking most of the heat from the melons before they started their long journey, and increasing the number of icings enroute. This permitted the famers to pick a more nearly ripened fruit and for the first time gave easterners a melon that had something of the flavor and quality that has since made West Side melons famous.
Then, in 1940, an Imperial valley loaded an almost full ripe care of melons for the east, sprayed several tons of finely chopped ice over the top of the packed car before it left. The melons arrived in almost perfect shape and within the next two years almost every packer was top-icing all east-bound cars. Today this is the common practice and in addition, during hot weather, large fans are directed over the sprayed ice to hasten its melting and more quickly reduce the heat from the melon itself.

As to his own company's part in the melon industry, Vajretti said that during the busy season more than 250 tons of ice are consumed in Los Banos alone by the melon packers. The company has a large ice-manufacturing plant at Firebaugh which produces from 255 to 260 tons a day, and they have a 6,500 ton storage warehouse which is completely filled before the season begins. Even with this capacity, Vajretti said, it is occasionally necessary to ship in ice from Stockton to fill the demand from Firebaugh, Mendota and Los Banos packers.

Briefly reviewing the mechanical process of manufacturing ice, the speaker said that last year the industry celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of the ice manufacturing process. Nearly all commercial plants, Vajretti said, uses ammonia as he heat reducing element, which is circulated in pipes through brine tanks, into which the cans of water are placed for freezing. It requires from 30 to 36 hours to freeze a 300 lb. block of ice.
Clear ice, Vagretti said, is more difficult, as water in each tank must be constantly circulated so that it freezes from the outside in to the center. Air hoses are used to circulate the water, and when nearly frozen the remaining water is removed and fresh water added so that no residue is left in the center. The company's Los Banos plant is devoted exclusively to the manufacture of clear ice.

As to the future of the ice industry, Vajretti states that every year shows an increase in total tonnage used, and that consumption in the United States today is approximately 33 million tons.

July 13, 1951

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