Speaking of the Cold

9 years ago

The posts about the cold made me think of this:

When I was a youngster in the 1920's and 1930's weather like this in Minnesota was time for "putting up ice."

By mid-January the lakes were sufficiently frozen that rural folks could "harvest" ice from the lakes and put it in an Ice House for use the next summer. the Ice House was a building roughly the size of a double car garage with a pointed roof. For whatever reason ours was not painted.

Farmers would put sideboards and sleigh runners on their wagons. On the chosen day several neighbors, dressed in their warmest clothes, would then travel with their horse drawn sleighs to the chosen lake and drive on to the ice.

Using an ice auger one man would bore a hole in the ice to see if it was a satisfactory depth - around 10 to 15 inches. Actually the ice had probably been tested the day before to make sure it was ready.

Then, with saws the men would cut the ice into somewhat square chunks and load them into the wagons. When all of the wagons were loaded the entourage would make its way to the farm.

There, they probably stopped for a good hot meal, cooked by the lady of the house, before starting to unload. The unloading process involved first laying a bed of sawdust on the ground, then packing the chunks of ice in rows with sawdust in between them. This continued until the ice house was full. It usually meant another trip to the lake to load up the wagons.

As with threshing and many other jobs the farmers helped each other, so it wasn't just a one-day task. Cooperation was necessary and expected.

When summer came we began using the ice to fill the compartment in the top of the icebox. Unfortunately, the ice supply often ran out some time in August when it was most needed. Then we used the cool cellar or the cistern, or water from the deep well to keep things reasonably cool. My mother would not use the ice in drinks, but put the pitcher in the icebox. Some folks I knew did put that lake ice in their lemonade. As far as I know it never made them sick.

Enjoy your automatic icemakers, folks! It was not always thus!!!

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Comments (10)

pam_25f
9 years ago
Thank you. I enjoyed reading this.
alisande
9 years ago
I enjoyed it too--thanks! It gave me a sense of what went on a long time ago in my own ice house.

{{gwi:2135780}}

As you can see, the walls are very thick!
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susie53_gw
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I have so many great childhood memories. We had a small lake on the outskirts of town and we always went skating. I still remember my ankles hurting.. There was a lodge we would go in and have hot chocolate. Yum, yum !!! We had so many kids on our street and we were always out playing in the snow. We made a snowman in all our yards up and down the street. There were 40 plus kids all about the same age. What fun we had. No matter what the weather we were always outside.. Kids nowadays don't know what they are missing.
yayagal
9 years ago
Seniorgal, your writing is fantastic, you made me feel like I could see it all take place. I read it to my husband. Thank you.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
9 years ago
Love that story! Having grown up in Louisiana we of course never had anything like that. And we can't have cellars either due to the water table and basically being below sea level in many of the low lying areas. Which is of course why the cemeteries are so interesting down there with the above ground vaults.
momrox4
9 years ago
Alisande, Love that ice house! Just curious...what do you use it for? Also, I'm in love with your porch.
francy13
9 years ago
Thank you, seniorgal, you are so prolific in your post
you should start writing short stories about the times of yesteryear. Your post brought back memories of the farm
my Adopted Parents had. What a joy!
alisande
9 years ago
Thanks, Momrox! The ice house consists of two unconnected rooms. We use one room to store gardening equipment. The other room (door not visible in the pic) used to house our pool equipment, but since I had the pool filled in a couple of years ago, it doesn't have much in it right now. I'm sure we'll think of something, though. :-)
Sue_va
9 years ago
Brr, I shivered reading that. I've never known, or actually even wondered, how anything was kept over the winter. That was hard work and with the men all helping each other it got done. We are all so spoiled these days. Thanks for the story; keep 'em coming!
Sue
User
Original Author
9 years ago
Allisande,
Your ice house would have been the envy of our whole county. We had lots of timber but very little stone suitable for building.

Speaking of the Cold

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