ICE HARVESTING

Irene Bender, "Ice Harvesting." In The Midst Of, Cokato Historical Society (Winter, 1991) vol. 11 no. 1.

Donnie Johnson cutting ice with blade mounted on Model-T frame and engine.

Interest in presenting and documenting local history was evident at the annual meeting of the Cokato Historical Society and 125 people attended a program on ice harvesting. Donnie Johnson and Milton Mattson, who harvested and delivered ice in the 30s, told many interesting stories. Slides from the photographs that Milt Mattson had taken of the complete process from cutting to stacking the cakes in the ice house served as a visual aid to ex­plain the ice harvest. Those photographs provide a valuable resource in documenting a service that was important in the com­munity before electric refrigeration and coolers.

Harvesting ice was a big business in the early years. Cakes of ice were cut from the lake, stacked in an ice house, and covered with sawdust to provide a method to cool food before refrigeration.
 
Before the ice plow, all the work was done with the hand saw. The ice plow made the harvest much easier. It was pulled by horses and would cut a groove in a length rice. Then, turning around in the opposite direction, the guide would be placed in the groove just made and the plow would then cut a second parallel groove, making the cut about s-10·inches in the ice. The plow was then pulled across the lengths, cutting the ice into cakes that were ap­proximately 32 inches long and 22 inches wide. The hand saw was used only on the first two lengths of ice to cut through the entire thickness. After that, five or six rods were pounded into the grooves and the men would pry the lengths apart. One of these ice blocks would weigh close to 400 pounds, depending on the thickness of the ice.

Horses wore special horseshoes called "sharp-shod", which had small chisel-like spikes in them so the horse had some traction. Later a large blade attached to a Model-T motor and frame was used to cut the ice. After the blocks were cut, they were guided down a channel, pulled up a platform with ice tongs and onto a hoist which lifted the cakes into the ice house.
 
The chisel was used to shave the ice so the cakes would stack together in the ice house. Sawdust was packed around the blocks which were stored for delivery to businesses and homes during the summer.
The ice was usually harvested from Brooks Lake. If the ice was bad, due to strong winds before the freeze, ice had to be cut from other lakes, loaded on a truck, and hauled to the ice house.
 
Many local people harvested ice, working for the Cokato Ice Company. Local creameries or neighbors would cut ice together for their own use. The pro­gram brought back the memories of good times; but also made the audience realize the hard work of harvesting ice.

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