Historical Notes by Bob .C.

The Ice Harvest

    The ice harvest usually began in late January or early February when the ice was from 12 to 18 inches thick. The ice was cleared of snow and then it was laid out in grids for cutting. Cuts were made by a horse-drawn, two-blade cutter. One blade made the primary cut and a second blade made a deeper cut. The last cuts were made with ice saws or ice axes.

    Pikes were used to move the ice blocks. Some blocks were moved back and forth to keep the water from freezing. Ice was pulled out of the water with ice tongs; cakes were loaded on sleds to be taken to ice houses where the cakes were packed two inches apart to keep them from freezing into a mass. Sawdust was used to cover them when they were stacked. Men and horses worked 10 to 14 hours a day to harvest the ice; the men made 15 to 20 cents an hour.

    In the early days foods were kept cool in a springhouse or hung in the well. Then with the use of sawdust or straw to keep the ice from melting, foods were placed in icehouses for storage until needed. Most all of the lakes and ponds in Fitzwilliam saw some ice harvesting.

    The 1840s saw the first use of ice boxes in the home, and by the late 1850s most houses had some type of icebox. When the railroad came through Fitzwilliam in 1848, ice companies from Boston bought ice to be shipped by rail to Boston, which later was sold to meat packers, fish houses, etc. Ice was being shipped by boat to southern ports and as far away as India. In the 1850s, railroads used ice boxcars to ship cheese, butter, etc. 1865 saw the use of artificial ice.

    Ice sold for 50 cents for a hundred pounds in 1923. After World War II, the electric refrigerator put an end to the demand for ice and an end to an era.  A local man was cutting ice at Laurel Lake for his own use until 1948.