Ben Shaw moves blocks of ice toward the pickup on which they are being loaded.
Featured in the Ridgefield Historical Society’s exhibit at the Town Hall for the past few months has been a display of ice harvesting materials.
Inspired by this exhibit, two Ridgefielders, Peter Nichols, biology teacher at Ridgefield High School, and Ben Shaw, traveled to Long Lake, N.Y., in the Adirondacks, to take part in an actual ice harvest.
“We have a summer home in Long Lake,” said Mr. Shaw. “Our neighbors, the Whitneys, have been harvesting ice on the lake for five generations and are one of only a couple of families in the Adirondacks who still take part in this activity.
“They do it because they love the rustic way of life, but also because they have no electricity for their Forked Pine Camp and need refrigeration that will last through the end of September.”
This year with all the cold weather, the lake was perfect for harvesting, so the Whitneys again gathered all their friends and family together for a back-breaking weekend of work. Their goal was to fill the 12 by 14 foot ice house, next to the kitchen, with almost 35 tons of ice.
“People of all ages, from all over, came in their warmest clothing to take on one of many jobs required in ice harvesting,” said Mr. Shaw. “Before we even began the actual cutting, we had to clean off the ice and mark it out into a 16 by 12 inch grid. Then Tom and Andy Whitney used their gas driven saw blade machine to made the initial cuts in the ice. This grid cutting is the most precise part of the process.”
Thenm it was time for people to join in as cutters, sliders, pilers, drivers or stackers.
“The cutters would continue cutting through the blocks by hand. The sliders would guide the 150-pound ice blocks to the submerged ramp in the truck. The pilers, using long metal poles with spikes, would get the blocks into the truck and then someone would arrange the blocks for the ride to the ice house.
Andy Whitney, owner of the ‘Forked Pine Camp,’ uses a gasoline-powered circular saw on wheels to slice up the blocks of ice.
“When the blocks got to the ice house, another crew was there to unload the truck and put the ice on another ramp that went into the ice house. Then the final step was for the stackers to carefully stack each block of ice from the sawdust floor to the ceiling.”
According to Peter Nichols, “The process was fascinating, but there was no easy job. You would keep trying to find one that was less physically strenuous, but that only came if you were a slider or driving the truck.”
The crew also had to work fast as there was only so much daylight to work with in the winter.
When asked why he decided to take on this arduous labor, Mr. Nichols replied, “I love to learn and try something new. I like to test myself. I like being involved in a lost-arts activity and ice harvesting certainly qualifies.
“To me it was like taking part in a barn raising. After all the work was done and you looked into the ice house, you felt a tremendous sense of pride.”