Ice Plows and Ice Harvesting

[Andrew Larson]

I was wondering if anyone has some knowledge on ice harvesting. We have an ice plow along with ice poles, hand saws, and tongs. I have a few pictures of my family cutting ice in the thirties still(I don’t have them with me though). They used only one horse on the plow and made parallel cuts a ways through. Then one of the pictures shows men with hand saws cutting the rest of the way. The last one shows the horse pulling an ice block up a ramp onto a truck via cables. I also know from my grandma that it was sort of a community project like threshing. She said that there were three or four neighboring families that helped harvest the ice and then they came and got some from our ice house in the summer when they needed it. Our ice house was just a large hole in the ground and the ice was covered with flax straw. This hole is now filled with junk until I clean it out. Does anyone else have some information on this activity? Thanks, Andrew

[Howie]

The Amish that I am friends with put up a lot Ice. I am of no help but I love go over and get in the way.
Elie has ice for about another week or ten days.

[Andrew Larson]

Hello Howie, I forgot about the Amish since there aren’t any of them where I live. I guess that they would still need to harvest ice since they don’t use electricity, but I am not familiar with them. Can you tell me any more about how they harvest it?
Thanks, Andrew

[Rod]

Their is a photo of ice harvesting in the photos section under horses.

[Andrew Larson]

Thanks Rod, that is a nice photo that Carl put on the site. The ice plow looks very similar to ours’s. Does anyone know what size of block was commonly cut or any tricks to the trade? Thanks, Andrew

[Rod]

Hi Andrew

I found this article which explains the process. I also recall a discussion about ice harvesting which I think was on this forum but I can’t find if it was. http://www.mapcenter.org/community/bcv-history3.html

[jen judkins]

There was a nice article in the current Yankee Horse Peddlar I read this am about horse powered farming in New England. They featured Don Hewes Farm in NY and said that he harvested ice last year…said it was ‘fun and easy’. He’s here on the forum, so perhaps he will report on the experience, but you could email him Andrew…I’m sure he would be happy to share what he knows. Have a good day.

[Rod]

I found the thread and it was about Donn Hewes harvest, has a photo link also. Here is the url http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?t=220

[Howie]

There is a fairly large group of Amish here that work together. If it is a good year for ice they will put up a huge amount of ice. Some still use sawdust for insulatin but most of them have built new ice houses with good insulatin.
They cut it with a large circle saw mounted on two wheels with an engine and finish the cut with a hand ice saw. They haul it with horses and if the sleding is good they will use sleds if not they will use wagons.

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