Ice Harvesting Saw

Display at the GWBHS Museum througout the winter 2010/2011
by Ron Hanson of West Bloomfield

This ice harvesting saw was used here in West Bloomfield by Robert Hanson and his sons to harvest ice from Orchard Lake and Pine Lake during the winter. The harvested ice was then stored and sold in the warm summer months. The Hanson's had at least two ice houses in West Bloomfield, one on Arline Drive and another at the southeast corner of Green Lake and Pontiac Trial. They also filled several private and commercial ice houses including hotels & resorts located on Orchard Lake and Pine Lake, as well as Pine Lake Country Club's ice house.

Prior to modern day refrigerators, ice was the only means to keep our perishable groceries cold and fresh. Instead of refrigerators families had an ice box in their kitchen. Ice boxes were metal lined wooden boxes with a compartment for groceries and a separate section for a large block
of ice.

The area lakes provided not only local residents & businesses ice for refrigeration, much of the ice may have been loaded on train cars & shipped to Detroit for the meat processing industry.

Ice harvesting was only performed for about 4 weeks a year, typically the coldest month, January.

The first part of ice harvesting was to select an ice field on the lake. Ice could not be harvested from anywhere on the lake. Sandy bottom, shallow areas, with a slow moving current were chosen because those areas produced the clearest, most solid ice. Ice that was murky and contained air pockets was not suitable for refrigeration.

Just like crop fields, ice fields had to be tended to as well. Workers would beginning cultivation process when the ice on the lakes was a mere 4” thick. After each snowfall the snow had to be scraped off the ice because snow made undesirable white ice filled with air pockets. This was done using special plows, (scrapers), pulled by horses fitted with special shoes to avoid slipping on the ice. Also, workers would frequently drill holes through the ice to allow lake water to rise to the top of the ice and freeze. This process was repeated several times during the growing season because it produced very clear, solid ice.

Once the ice was “ripe” about 14 – 16” thick, the workers would scrape the ice one last time. Once the field was cleared, the horses were hitched to ice markers. The ice marker scored parallel grooves in the ice. The grooves were cut deeper using horse drawn ice plows. Then the workers would finishing cutting through the using this ice saw. They would then float the cut ice onto a wooden ramp on the lake shore and onto a sledge. The horse drawn sledge would haul the ice to the ice house where it was carefully packed in sawdust or peat moss for insulation.

Throughout the summer months, ice was delivered to area businesses and residents on a regular basis. The delivery men would begin their day with several blocks of ice weighing up to 300 pounds. At each stop, the iceman would chop off smaller blocks depending on the customer's
need.

Ice Box

Ice Scale

Ice axe and hand ice saw

Ice tongs