Anne Wallace, Josh Benner, Shelby Ward, Jacob Crockett, Shania St. Pierre, and Marisa Beedle.
Learn more about Ice Cutting on Bombahook. Click here.
Ice Cutting, Lake Hebron, Monson, ca. 1900A similar view to the procedure used on the Kennebec when gathering ice. Click on the link to learn more about cutting ice on Cascade Pond in Hallowell.
“Ice Mania” was the name of the icing industry; by a Maine newspaper in the 1869-1870 season. Because of the warm winter, Massachusetts and New York had to buy their ice from Maine.
The ice cutting industries in Hallowell Maine were used to keep tons and tons of ice in ice houses during the winter. When summer came around, they would send out the ice to be purchased and put in ice boxes as a source of refrigeration until William Cullen would invent the first refrigerator.
Tons and tons of ice was shipped south during the later half of the 19th century. Forty-two ice houses like “Ice Mania”, covered the shores of the Kennebec River. Ice men are guiding ice blocks toward the steam-powered conveyor belt. This belt lifts the blocks up, into the ice house for later shipping.
Ice cutting industries, specifically Gardiner ice cutting industry cut ice off of the Kennebec River, during the cold winter seasons when the ice was very solid. It was always a risk, considering moving currents and the movement of the ice.
Loading ice, Presque Isle Stream, 1946
A similar image to an ice house on the Kennebec.Presque Isle Historical Society
When the Gardiner ice industry would gather ice, they would first start cutting down into the ice with a circular motion. Using a long saw, picks, and horses as hauling devices to pull the ice off the river. Once the ice was off the river, it would be pulled by horse to the nearest ice house. There the ice blocks would run down a ramp, to be set by tons and stored until the summer. The process had a ramp, and they would use wooden boards to give the ice blocks a direction into the stacks. A metal pick would be used to help spin the ice down into the collection. Once they got to the ice house they would be stored in sawdust to keep cool and insulated the cold.
The Ice industry started in 1826 and lasted 75 years. The ice industry became a big industry in Maine. Ships hauled blocks of ice all the way to Cuba and the West Indies. Ice was covered with sawdust to prevent melting. People were willing to pay for the ice because there was no refrigeration for their food. People kept their food cold using large blocks of ice.
If people wanted ice, they would put a card in the window showing how much ice they wanted. Ice was either a ten cents block or a twenty cents block. You would have to cut it to fit the ice box and then carry it up to the house. The ice industry ended when the river became polluted by factories and serge being dumped in the river. Refrigeration was invented around 1900.