Page 27 - 2010 Lake St. Clair Guide Magazine
P. 27
Although the northern end of Lake To harvest the ice blocks, the snow had to of parallel rows cut three inches deep on
St. Clair has always been a tourism be removed from the lake. They would the surface. The ice surface was then cut
area, there were a few industries here use a team of horses pulling a large scoop crossways with 22-inch intervals until the
besides hotels and taverns for the that scraped and cleared the surface. Next surface had a checkerboard pattern with
vacationers. Farming was very big 32 x 22 inch rectangular appearance.
among the early settlers, and one of the men had to make a channel of water
the annual harvests was ice. cleared next to the plant. The men would A second team of horses with an ice plow
measure and mark a long straight line on that had larger teeth would deepen the
From 1900-1930’s the sale of ice was big the frozen surface using a small saw about cuts to eight to twelve inches, depending
business before the days of refrigeration. twelve to eighteen inches long with a long the thickness of the ice. Large rectangular
Houghton French Ice Company came handle. sections were cut free manually with
to Fair Haven in 1909, and was located handsaws. The sections with about fifty
where the Fair Haven DNR launch is prescored cakes of ice would float in the
today. The company employed 50 men open water to the water-box near the ice
working 10 hour days, hauling 100 pound plant. The sections were cut into indi-
blocks to a 3000 square foot building. vidual cakes of ice with a uniform cut of
The ice was covered by Marsh Grass to 32 x 22 inches. The ice was about 8 to 18
stay frozen into the summer months. A inches thick depending on the severity
good harvest for this plant was 30,000 of the winter. These measurements were
tons per winter. based on the average icebox at the time.
Ice was considered a luxury and was Then a horse-drawn marking saw was set Continued on Page 31....
not commonly available to the public. on the line. The saw had a series of teeth
Improvements with the icebox created the that cut into the ice about three inches
demand for ice. By 1879, about thirty- deep along the line. This process contin-
five ice plants operated in the United
States; the number grew to two thousand ued
by 1900. until
there
were a
series
The author, publisher, or seller assumes no liability with respect to the use of information contained herein. Page 27
