Monday, June 17, 2013

Ice Harvest in the Northwoods

Anne Love
I'm so excited! My blog partner, Anne Love, at Coffee Cups and Camisoles is an avid researcher of all things historical. It's like history latches onto her like lint sticks to my slacks--but in a good way. We've been working on her latest manuscript which is all about the ice yards of the North. She shared some insights about the ice yards with me and on our blog a while back and I'm just too stoked to NOT share it here:

"On the brick wall of my parent's kitchen wall hangs my grandfather's ice hook.

When I see it, I'm catapulted back to childhood memories of visits to Northern Michigan, riding past a frozen Lake Kathleen on Woodland Road. It's that scene that spurred the idea for the back drop of my manuscript--where the waters were dammed for local ice harvest.

Before refrigeration in the 1920's, ice was harvested and stored for use well into the summer months. It was shipped by rail to nearby towns and cities. The harvest season was late January to February. The harvest industry was fiercely competitive. They had crews of men who scraped the snow off the ice surface.


(free public domain: Wikimedia Commons)
Horse drawn markers would grid out fields into "cakes" or sections of ice about 22x23inches. Using horse drawn cutters, the ice workers deepened the marked grooves. 
(free public domain: Wikimedia Commons)

The cakes were easily separated with hand saws and funneled to channels that led to the ice house for storage. 
(free public domain: Wikimedia Commons)
A horse, or steam powered leverage system transferred the ice cakes onto chutes that led to vast internal rooms where the cakes were carefully stacked.
(Free public domain: Wikimedia Commons)
Then late in spring, the ice blocks were slid down wooden ramps into waiting barges for trips to such places as New York City. 

The work was transient and required a temporary work force that often overwhelmed the smaller towns of the North, filling the local hotels and boarding houses. Men often came for miles about for work, including construction workers, trappers, farmers, shingle makers, painters, and tannery workers. Such men may have been unaccustomed to industrial work. Laborers often included women as well, and a mix of cultures such as Irish and Italian workers. Work stoppages were common with unpredictable thaws and sub-zero weather changes. Maintaining order for several hundred men was a problem, especially during strikes. 

The supply and demand of the market made for a rush to be the first, or the best supplier. The business was bitterly competitive. This competition drove secrecy about actual tonnages stored, and also sabotage against rival ice yards."

See what I mean? I just love Anne's research. Makes you think twice about the ice cubes we so casually grab from the freezer and plop in our glass. Or the crushed ice my daughter fills her plastic sippy with by jamming into the pocket of Gramma's fridge.

Learning an appreciation for the everyday uses skyrockets when you find what individuals went through just to make a cup of coffee, add an ice cube and suck it down...

What little simple thing in life can you NOT live without that you'd love to hear how it "worked" in the old days?
 

______________________________________


Jaime Wright -

Writer of Historical Romance stained with suspense. Youth leader. Professional Coffee Drinker. Works in HR and specializes in sarcasm :)

Find me on Twitter
Find me on Facebook
Find me on Pinterest

19 comments:

  1. I remember my grandmother (1875-1979)talking about harvesting ice in Missouri. We have so much to be thankful for!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Makes me very thankful for refrigeration! I'm glad for many of my modern conveniences and would hate to live without most of them. But I think I'm especially thankful for my washing machine. I've had to wash things by hand a few times, and I think it would be exhausting work to scrub with a washboard and wring dry clothing. No wonder they wore their clothes until they nearly stood up by themselves! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree about the washing machine Bethany. I remember my Amish babysitter using a wringer washer. Blech. I love my front loader!

      Delete
    2. I think I'd go naked. ok. not really. but still...

      Delete
  3. I agree with Bethany. We are blessed beyond measure! Electric stoves, washing machines, refrigeration, dryers, lights, heat pumps, A/C, phones, cars, planes, computers. And all of this within the last 150 years or so.

    When I was a teen, keeping the whole house a comfortable temperature in winter and summer wasn't high on the list of priorities for my parents. Central heat & A/C was unheard of when they were starting their family. Wood stoves, then gas heaters, oscillating fans, then ceiling fans, and maybe window A/C units (used sparingly) were the order of the day.

    I'm not saying our house was bitterly cold or miserably hot, we just didn't have the newfangled ductwork in the ceiling that would keep the whole house cool/warm year-round. So I determined that I might drive a rattle-trap of a car and eat beans and rice, but in the words of Scarlet in Gone with the Wind, "as God is my witness!", I would have central heat and A/C in my home. ha!

    I'm older and wiser now, so I think I'll go with Bethany's choice...a WASHING MACHINE is probably my #1 convenience that I would hate to have to do without.

    But I still like my A/C in the dog days of a MS summer... :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm, Pam, AC vs. washer.... now I'm second thinking things. :)

      Delete
    2. I'd have to pick washer too. I can sleep in the cool basement as long as the spiders stay away.

      Delete
  4. I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post! I'm a lifelong resident of Michigan, and know the rugged winters well. We live in the home that my grandparents built when they first came to Michigan from The Netherlands. Originally they used an ice box, and many of those ice blocks came right from our own state. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know firsthand the roughness of old Michigan! :)

      Delete
  5. It is amazing to learn how much was involved in the process of getting ice back then. This was very interesting and I loved being able to see some real pictures of ice being harvested. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pictures were neat weren't they? I love historical pictures. They bring so much to life!

      Delete
  6. Wow, just for some ice! Love this history.
    Susan P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I'll stick with my handy dandy ice trays ;)

      Delete
  7. I've recently begun reading a lot of historical fiction and have always wondered how they kept things cold or how they had ice without refrigerators and such. And while I know my life would've been pure misery without A/C since I have MS - my body & brain completely shut down when I get too warm, which even happens in freezing weather. After reading Lisa Bergren's River of Time series, which is set in medieval times, I've been curious how people "brushed" their teeth. So many pics and movies set in that era show people with rotted out teeth. I'm just saying I would really miss that mint-y fresh feeling I get every day! Thank for sharing your post. I really found it quite fascinating!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Toothpaste ... what IS the history of toothpaste!? You may have just given me inspiration for July 17th's blog post!

      Delete
    2. Yay! I'm glad I could inspire that in you! In the book the girl was being prepared for wedding (Torrent I believe was the book) and she was given 2 sticks - one with charcoal and one that was minty. I'll be anxiously looking to see what you found out in July!

      Delete
  8. I've always wondered about harvesting ice. I've lived in OK most of my life, and it doesn't get cold enough here for that. I can't imagine what life was like in the late 1800 in place like OK and Tx where it's so hot in the summers. How did they manage without cold things to drink.

    One of my fav inventions is indoor bathrooms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great point. Was ice regional? It had to have been!

      Delete