The Ice Business of the United States - Part 1

Editor's note: The following article was originally published in the New York Tribune November 3, 1858. Thanks to Contributing Scholar Carl Mayer for finding, cataloging and transcribing this article. The language, spelling and grammar of the article reflects the time period when it was written.

https://smithapplebyhouse.org/ice-the-cold-harvest/

In this age of the world, each succeeding generation employs some means of increasing the pleasures of living that were unknown or unused by its predecessors. In regard to the subject of this article, Ice, we cannot say, with correctness, that its use was not known before the present century; but it is quite certain that it never came into general use in civilized nations until within a very recent period.

The domestic use of ice, to a limited extent, is very ancient. Among the Greeks and Romans, various means were used to preserve snow and ice to cool their drinks; but their methods were simple and of little account in comparison with those of the present day. By freezing mixtures[,] the ancient Romans cooled their Tiberian and other wines that the poet Horace so graphically describes. In some tropical countries, particularly in India, several processes of forming ice have been known for many centuries; so that those who had this knowledge could, with but little trouble and expense, readily prepare ice, and enjoy its benefits.
​
About the middle of the sixteenth century, the custom of cooling drink with saltpeter was introduced into Italy. Afterward, the method of increasing the cold of snow and ice by a mixture of saltpeter became common. In the fore part of the seventeenth century, ice-cups were introduced, and fruits frozen in ice were brought upon the tables. Soon after this, the French began to freeze the juices of all savory fruits for desserts.

In this country, ice was used for domestic consumption previous to the present century. An account before us, referring to the year 1799, mentions that some farmers in Maryland and Pennsylvania then had ice-houses, and it is probable that farmers in other sections of the country also had them. In course of time, the custom of housing ice in the Winter increased, and yet very slowly, because it was regarded as luxurious, or at least was practiced only by the wealthy. But, during the period of the last twenty years, we may safely say that the general consumption of ice, especially in our American cities and large towns, has increased in a rapid ratio annually.

Ice is now considered as one of the inexpensive comforts of life, desirable to be secured during the warm months by every family; indeed, it is a necessary article, and one of the most economical for any household. Hence, the use of it at the present period in this and many other cities is general with all who can afford it, as the saying is, or, in fact, with all who properly appreciate its value.

In regard to the actual extent of the ice business throughout the United States at the present time, we have but little reliable information, our facts being confined to the Cities of New-York and Boston and a few other large places. In that part of the Census of 1850 which relates to the "occupations of the free male population over fifteen years of age” (the statistics of which embraced about half of the free population above that age), we find the following statement of persons reported as ice dealers:
New-Hampshire.......   2
Massachusetts... ....  30
New-York................  88
Pennsylvania..........  72
District of Columbia..  2
South Carolina.........  2
Louisiana................. 13
Mississippi...............   1
Kentucky..................   2
Ohio.........................   5
Indiana.....................   2
Total....................... 219

At the close of 1854, a gentleman of Boston, writing on this subject, stated the following:
“Already, from all that we can learn, there is invested, in this branch of business, in all parts of the United States, not less than from $6,000,000 to $7,000,000. And in ten years, judging from the past, it may be twice as great as at the present time. The number of men employed more or less of the Winter, in the business in Boston and vicinity, is estimated at from 2,000 to 3,000, and in the whole country there are supposed to be from 8,000 to 10,000 employed.”

In 1856, one familiar with the business compiled the following estimate of the annual domestic consumption of ice in the larger cities, to which was added this remark:
“In the smaller towns, especially in those where water is introduced by reservoirs, the consumption of ice is about two-thirds as great in proportion to their population.”
Boston....... tuns 60,000
New-York.......  300,000
Philadelphia...  200,000
Baltimore.......    45,000
Washington...    20,000
Charleston....    15,000
Mobile...........    15,000
New Orleans.    40,000
St. Louis........    25,000
Cincinnati......    25,000

As will be seen from subsequent statements, the amount consumed in this city [New-York], at the present time, is much greater than in 1856, and so probably in other cities.

The common uses of ice are so well known that it is unnecessary to particularize them. It is a general cooler of most articles of food and drink. One writing on this subject of ice, in illustrating its usefulness, says, and rather enthusiastically: "Take a large city that uses aqueduct water, how could the inhabitants use it for their daily beverage unless it were cooled, for  six or eight mouths of the year? If they could subsist without ice, so they could without fresh meat, and without fruit. But a people highly civilized must more than subsist; they must live — they must live comfortably; they must have the necessaries and some of the luxuries that a gracious Providence has cast into their path. Fruits of the most delicate kind, and flowers are preserved fresh and blooming by the use of ice.” Every year many extensive cargoes of fruits, vegetables and provisions, being surrounded with ice, are shipped to tropical countries, where otherwise these articles could not be sent. The benefit of ice to steamers and passengers is very great, in enabling them to take on board a large supply of fresh provisions, and keep them fresh for the entire voyage, and has almost entirely abolished the nuisance of live stock at sea. Many fishermen carry ice with them to the fishing banks, and return with their fish as fresh as when first caught. There are several branches of manufactures [sic] which derive aid from ice. In some towns of New-England, engaged in the oil business, Winter-strained oil is no more heard of, it being now strained better in Summer than in Winter, by means of a freezing mixture made with salt and ice. Ice has its medical uses. It is a tonic, and almost the only one that in its reaction produces no injury. In its common use for beverages, taken in moderate quanties [sic], it serves to keep the system in such healthy condition that food gives it more strength. Frequently in India the first prescription of a physician to his patient is ice, and it is sometimes the only one.
Almost the whole returns from the ice business are a gain to the country. If there was no demand for ice, it would be worthless; no labor would be used in collecting it, no expense would be incurred in preserving it. Because it is in regular demand, the business of gathering it gives employment at fair prices to a great number of men at a season of the year when employment is the scarcest, and to many persons throughout the whole year. In the preservation of the ice there is a demand for a large stock of building materials, and this promotes the trade in those articles. This preservation also calls into use some articles for filling store houses — such as sawdust, rice-chaff, &c. — which would otherwise be valueless. The transportation of ice not only requires the labor of men, but brings about the construction of vehicles, vessels, &c.; and, like the other branches of the business, gives additional activity to many departments of productive industry. In the exportation of ice, ships frequently receive it for freight, and earn their expenses and profits when they could not otherwise obtain any cargo. Thus it is seen that the money and labor expended in the ice business contributes in a very considerable degree to the development of other interests. The amount directly expended by the public for ice as delivered, not merely rewards the ice-dealer for his labors and the investment of his capital, but more or less benefit all who have in any way been connected with the work of collecting, preserving and selling it, and those who are dependent upon their labor.

Fortunes have been made in the ice business and others have been lost. It is a department of human effort that requires the strictest attention and the most judicious management. Formerly, the trade, though not suffering from competition, was so now [sic: new] as not to be well understood; now, the ice dealer is liable to suffer by the active competition that he meets on all sides. Still, as the use of ice is constantly increasing, both at home and abroad, and as the crop is often a partial failure, he who thoroughly understands the business will find it about as safe and remunerative as any other.

The bodies of water from which ice is taken are, on that account, regarded as very valuable, and are taxed as the property of the abutters. Their valuation has advanced as the business has increased, and the value of real estate in their vicinity has augmented in a similar ratio.
When the land surrounding a valuable ice-pond is owned by different parties, it is customary to determine the exact proportion of the pond to which each is entitled. The rule is, that each owner has the right to the same proportion of the contiguous surface of the pond as the length of his shore line is to its whole border. At some ponds near Boston, where the ice privileges are very valuable, the boundaries of each party are accurately marked. This system of division originated at Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Mass., in the year 1839. Owing to the great quantity of ice that was secured there and the absence of any arrangement as to boundaries, differences arose among the proprietors of its borders as to where each should take ice. This induced them to agree to distinct boundary lines, and the matter was referred to three Commissioners —Messrs. Simon Greenleaf, Levi Farwell, and J. M. Felton, who settled it on the plan just mentioned. This settlement was made by partition deed, executed by all the owners, and recorded in the registry of deeds of Middlesex County. Published maps were also placed in public institutions and private hands. These maps show the direction and length of the boundary lines and the area of each owner. This arrangement proved to be of great advantage to the parties, enabling them to secure more ice than they otherwise could.

At Rockland Lake, some years ago, there were three companies, previous to their consolidation, that took ice from it, and though they had boundaries, &c., they would open and take the ice together, from agreement, since it was found that the opening of a side by one of the parties would frequently allow the wind to open the whole of the Lake.

The instruments and machines used in securing ice are especially constructed for the purpose. As the business increased, various implements were devised, and different methods were adopted, which were successively superseded by better ones. Those now used on the ice-field are the wooden scraper, snow-plane (or snow-ice plane), ice-marker, ice-plow (or ice-cutter), ice-saw, ice-splitting bar, ice-hock, &c. The plane costs about $75, the marker about the same, and the plow (of which there are different sizes) from $60 to $90. Of the latter there are several, say half a dozen, for each large ice-house. At West Cambridge, Mass., there is an establishment extensively engaged in the manufacture of the implements; and at Rockland Lake there is another. These and their uses are subsequently described. Their importance in saving labor is very great. In the Winter of 1854-5, it was estimated that by means of the ice-plow, or cutter, the reduction in the cost of cutting the ice in the neighborhood of Boston was equal to $15,000 per annum. By the labor of forty men with twelve horses, some 400 tuns can be cut and stowed away in a single day.

The yearly crop of ice is collected mainly during the latter part of January and the greater part of February. In the vicinity of Boston, February is the month most relied on for the bulk of the annual yield. At Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, ice is secured in the early part of the Winter, as far as then formed, and afterward, if possible. The New-York ice-dealers generally secure most of their crop in January. About the middle of that month those experienced in gathering ice can estimate approximately the value of the Winter’s crop. The portion of an ordinary Winter which is really favorable to securing ice is comparatively short — generally not more than twenty days in the season. Hence, during this time the ice companies are very active; and in some locations near Boston they sometimes carry on their operations both day and night. This is more particularly the case when there is a prospect of unfavorable weather. In this region such rapidity has but rarely been necessary.

Occasionally, while the ice is forming in December and January, the icemen pass over its surface, after it is thick enough to bear their weight, and break holes in it, if there is no snow on it. In this way the formation is accelerated by the overflow of the water, and the ice itself forms faster at the bottom. The surface is kept as free as possible of snow, because this greatly retards the formation. Ordinarily snow falls before there has been cold enough to form ice of suitable thickness. If this occurs when the ice is four or more inches thick and the snow is not heavy enough to sink the ice, it is usually removed by the “snow-scrapers,” which are made of wood and are drawn by horses, one or two to each scraper — in New-York, generally two horses, On some ponds in Massachusetts, from which several different parties take ice, it was formerly, if not now, customary to pile up the snow on their respective boundaries. This plan is objectionable, since the  snow, by its weight, tends to sink the ice, and in New York is not practiced, but the snow is entirely removed. If the snow falls so heavy as to bring the water above the surface of the ice[,] it congeals with the water into what is termed “snow-ice,” which is not fit for market but is removed by another scraper, called in New-York the “snow-plane,” in some parts of Massachusetts the "ice-plane." This is made of iron, with a sharp cutting instrument of cast steel attached to its bottom; it is drawn by two horses and a man rides upon it. It is guided by inserting its “guides” into grooves previously made with the "ice-marker.” It takes off a roll of snow-ice about two inches thick and twenty-two wide, which breaks up and is scraped off in the same manner as dry snow, or it may be removed into the water from the surface of which the ice has already been taken.

These preliminary operations are often very costly. Frequently, after much expense has been incurred to remove a body of snow or snow-ice, the weather becomes warm, and melts the ice, and this previous labor is wholly lost. And, on the other hand, if it is not done, and the cold continues, there will be little or no increase of thickness to the ice, which is equally a disaster. 

The cutting of the field of ice may be commenced when it has formed to a thickness of six inches, or more. If its thickness is less than six inches, it cannot be cut by the machines with the use of horses, since it will not bear their weight. The ice companies of this city usually commence cutting when the thickness has reached seven inches, unless there is, at the time of being ready to commence, a prospect of there being colder weather immediately, and consequently of an increase to the thickness. In the Winter of 1855-'56, the ice cut for the New-York market had an average thickness of fifteen inches, and considerable quantities were twenty-two inches; in 1856-'57, the blocks were from twelve to fifteen inches thick; but the last Winter was a very poor season, and the average thickness of the ice was still less. For the retail trade thin ice is preferred on account of the diminished waste in cutting it up. Of the ice cut around Boston, the thickest is always reserved for foreign shipment, because of its greater solidity, or compactness and durability.

Having cleared the field of whatever snow and snow-ice there was upon it, and being otherwise ready for cutting, the next process is to mark it off into blocks of uniform size by the "marker." The first part of this process, however, is actually done by hand, viz: the cutting of two straight grooves (one at right angles to the other) in the ice, to which all the other grooves produced by the marker are to be parallel. A man cuts these first grooves in the same way that a carpenter draws straight line on a board with a pencil, or nail, alongside his mule; he lays down a board or plank as a guide, and draws alongside of it, through the ice, a chisel sufficiently sharp and large to cut a groove of the desired size, and continues to extend them until they reach across the pond, or as far as wished. (When the plane is previously used to remove snow-ice, grooves of this sort, or one of them, are cut by hand before the plane is used, and in that case, as previously remarked about the plane, the marker forms grooves for the guides of the plane.) This marker is drawn by horse. To it handles are attached, and a man holds and guides it as he would a plow. With it he marks and cross-marks the field. The grooves formed by the marker are parallel, which is effected by its having a guide that is placed in the groove last made. When they have been made in one direction, others at right angles with them are produced in the same manner. When the ice is quite thin, this marker cute it sufficiently deep to allow of its separation by the ice-splitting bar into the blocks that are stored in the icehouses; but this is not often the case. The size of the blocks for both New-York and Boston markets, for a long period, was 22 inches square. This size, we believe, is still used at Boston. For the last two or three years, the New-York Companies have cut to the size of 22 by 27 inches, the extra amount for length having been found more convenient for packing in wagons.

The next and the main process is the use of the plow (or cutter, as it is otherwise sometimes called), which is also drawn by one horse, and follows directly through the grooves made by the marker. This instrument is generally similar to the marker (and both remind one of a carpenter's plow) but its knife or chisel is longer, or rather its chisel is compounded of a series of small cutting chisels, one succeeding another and deepening the groove. At one passage it cuts about two inches deep (each small chisel cutting about one-forth of an inch); and at each succeeding passage another equal amount. For ice of different thickness, there are plows of different sizes — chiefly 9 inch and 12 inch — the latter serving for a thickness of 20 inches, When the field of ice has been cut through in one direction by the plow, it in cut through in the other grooves, at right angles; and thus it is all cut into regular blocks.

These are then completely separated by sawing slightly between them with handsaw, and are floated by the men to the shore of the pond through little canals cut in the ice for that purpose.

At many places the ice-houses are built upon the immediate borders of the water, and then the blocks are floated up directly to their receiving doors. In other cases the blocks are drawn off from the pond or creek or river on sleds, and from the shore are conveyed to their storehouse.

Various modes of elevating the ice into its houses are practiced. The New-York companies, and many of those around Boston, now use the endless chain in combination with the inclined plane, and steam power chiefly, this having been attended with better success than horse power. Some years ago the latter was chiefly used. In some instances, where the ice-house in pretty near the shore, the blocks are immediately taken by steam power, piece by piece, up an inclined plane to a sufficient elevation, and are thence directed down a more moderate inclined plane to the doors of the buildings into which they are lowered by steam, and packed away by the requisite number of men. In Massachusetts, where the blocks are cut square, they are laid in the storehouse in regular courses, every block exactly covering the next below it. In New-York, where the blocks are 22 by 27 inches, there is an alternate arrangement of the courses — in opposite directions — to prevent their pressing against the house and breaking it open. When a vault of a New-York house has been filled, it is covered with a layer of salt-marsh hay, from New-Jersey, four to five feet thick, and the receiving doors are fitted up to prevent waste until the contents are required for use. Near Boston, wood shavings and other articles have been used for covering material.

The storehouses of the ice companies often are immense structures, but they vary considerably in size. The largest in this State is at Athens, and will hold 58,000 tuns; it belongs to the New-York Ice Company. The Knickerbocker Company have two at Rockland Lake, which will each contain about 40,000 tuns, one at Highland Lake holding 30,000, and one on the Hudson River holding 20,000. Generally, these buildings are very broad, and from 100 to 200 feet and upward in length. They present a singular appearance, neither looking like storehouses nor barns, and one unacquainted with the ice business would be almost certain, on seeing them for the first time, to ask, “What are they?” Most of the valuable ice-ponds have several of these structures on their borders. Fresh Pond, Cambridge, has its shores almost covered with some fifty of them.

The construction of these storehouses must be regulated by several circumstances, viz: by the climate, the amount to be stored, the material nearest at hand, and their nearness to the sources of supply. It is especially desirable to have a cool location, where the influence of the sun and warm atmosphere shall be least. The ice must be preserved as much as possible from wasting, and this is effected by surrounding it with materials that are poor conductors of heat, such as sawdust, rice-hulls, hay, leaves, charcoal, tan, shavings, &c. Any or all of these are used, according to circumstances, both in the ice-houses and on board vessels that export ice.

Most of the storehouses are built of wood, [and] because of its relative cheapness. Their walls, or sides, are double, and are formed by placing two ranges of joist upright, which at the bottom are set in the ground, or framed into sills, and at the top are framed into plates. These two ranges are ceiled [sic: sealed?] with boards, secured to that side of each range which is nearest the other. In the New-York houses, the space between the boardings is at least fourteen inches (enough to readily admit a man), and is generally filled with sawdust alone, but sometimes with saw-dust mixed with pulverized charcoal, &c. Occasionally rice chaff is used, but this is seldom obtainable in large quantities; in fact, it is out of sale now, as we are informed, and cannot be had at all. The saw-dust is procured from New-York, Albany, &c., at an average price of $4 per cord. This kind of filling never needs to be changed, as some others do. Filling with tan was formerly practiced near Boston, more than any other method, according to the following description. “The space between the two boardings is filled with refuse tan wet from the yards. This wet tan is frozen during the winter, and until it is thawed in the spring and summer, little waste occurs; afterward the waste is more rapid, but, as a large portion of the ice is taken out, for domestic consumption or shipment, before this takes place, the loss in quantity is small, and occurring before the expenses of transportation have been paid is of less pecuniary importance. So long as the mass of the tan remains frozen, it answers well enough; but since it will melt each summer there arises the necessity of re-freezing it every winter.

Very few of the large ice-houses in the Northern States are constructed of brick or stone. Such material is, of course, far more costly, but has the advantage of durability, a well as of safety from fire, to which these structures are much exposed, from the light, dry materials used in them to preserve the ice.  At Cambridge, one of this kind covers 36,000 square feet of ground; its vaults are forty feet deep, and its walls are four feet thick from outside to inside, inclosing [sic: enclosing] two sets of air-spaces.

These storehouses in southern countries, where ice is most valuable, are constructed at greater expense, usually of brick or stone; and the protection to the ice consists in air-spaces, or in dry, light vegetable substances enclosed between two walls. The ice-houses in New-Orleans, Mobile, etc., are among the most substantial buildings in those cities. We have an extract from a number of The Bengal Hurkarn in 1845, containing a notice of an ice-house erected at Calcutta, by Mr. Wyeth of Cambridge, Mass. It is capable of holding 30,000 tuns of ice, and incloses more than three-fourths of an acre. Its walls are 198 feet long, 178 wide and 40 high; these are of brick, and triple, with flues or air-spaces between; and the whole is covered by five roofs, also with air-spaces between.

The yearly crop of ice varies considerably, accounting to the character of the season, and is much influenced by many circumstances. In the winter of 1852-3, the first half of the season was extremely unfavorable, and in the latter part of January, Rockland Lake was but just frozen over in good condition, when it was completely buried by a heavy snow. Similar and other mishaps not unfrequently occur in every locality; and hence there is a great variation in the cost of securing ice, which thus produces a corresponding change in the price of the article in different years.

Harper's Weekly, The Ice Industry of New York drawn by F. Ray, August 3, 1884. Hudson River Maritime Museum collection

---

If ​you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

Donate Now

Join Today