ICE HARVESTING

A well-known figure was the man delivering the ice.

Ice card. Residents wishing a delivery of ice would place a card like this in their window. The upper number indicated the number of pounds to be purchased. Weights began at 12.5 pounds and went to 25, 50, and then 100 pounds. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

ICE HARVESTING. It took 100 men, working ten hours daily, six days to cut and store 9,000 tons of river ice for the Thomas J. Mulgrew company.

The ice field was marked off in the harbor by a gasoline-powered circular saw. Each ice cake was marked off 22 inches square. After the marking, making a groove 11 inches deep in the ice, the circular saw cut "floats," ten cakes long and two cakes wide.

These "floats" were floated down a channel cut in the ice to a mechanical chute extending from the company's large ice house to the river. All along the channel were men with pike poles to keep the "floats" moving towards the chute. At the river end of the chute, which was 150 feet long, men used steel bars called "spuds" to break the "floats" into individual cakes each 22 by 28 inches. A water wheel at the end of the chute caught each cake and sent it up the chute to the ice house.

The ice house was divided into five compartments. Men with pike poles were stationed at each compartment opening to divert the ice cakes from the conveyor into the compartments. Inside each compartment were twelve men who moved the cakes into orderly rows with all space used. All ice cakes which appeared defective were pushed off the conveyor to the ground. Delivery was made to homes and businesses displaying an "ice today" card in the window. In 1910 one ton of ice cost fifty cents including the cost of delivery.

At one time there were five firms cutting ice from the river.

Using an ice pick and axe, the delivery man (shown in the picture) chipped a block of ice, stored beneath heavy canvas, to the size desired by the customer. Carried with metal tongs to the customer's kitchen, the ice was placed in wooden chests that served Dubuque families for many years as the method of refrigeration. Melted ice was caught by a drip pan that had to be regularly emptied to prevent it from overflowing onto the floor. The last of Dubuque's three major ice houses to carry out "ice harvests" was CONLIN AND KEARNS.

In 1903 the Board of Health took the initiative in helping to provide the people of the city of Dubuque with purer ice. It ordered that no ice for domestic consumption (drinks etc.) could be cut below the north line of the ice harbor. It was explained that it was unsafe to use ice that was cut below the ice harbor where two sewers emptied into the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. The newspaper announced that the order of the Board would place several of the city's ice firms at considerable additional expense, but that any violation of the order would lead to arrest and fine.

An ice harvest with blocks ready for hauling to an ice house. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Coupons good for 25 pounds of ice. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Ice picks used to chip off the needed amount of ice for a home or occasion.Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Picture of an iceplow for cutting ice. Photo courtesy: Potosi Brewing Company

Picture of a riding plow. Photo courtesy: Potosi Brewing Company

Photo courtesy: Potosi Brewing Company

Photo courtesy: Potosi Brewing Company

Photo courtesy: Potosi Brewing Company

Scenes of a Typical Ice Harvest in 1919

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