Owing to the protracted periods of low temperature this winter, the ice has formed more thickly than usual on the river this year, and the crews will probably not get on the water as soon as they did last spring. The basin below the Brookline street bridge is free from all fixed ice, but there is still a good deal of loofe floating ice which the tide carries from one bridge to the other. Above the Brookline street bridge, however, there is still a good deal of fixed ice, which it will take some time to break up. In places there are patches of clear water, but on the high flats and marshes there is very much ice which floats down as the tides flow off of the marshes and piles itself up in the river. There are two large coal schooners that were caught by the ice at Richardson and Bacon's wharf, and it is probable that tugs will soon break their way up and tow them away. This will start the ice, and the tide, aided by the sun, which is now so high as to be quite effective on the salt ice, will soon clear the river. The crews will probably be out by the twentieth at the latest.