[AT] Ice harvest coming up next month

[Steve W.]

Larry Goss wrote:
> Very interesting site, Steve.  It brings to mind entries in my
> grandmother's diary where she describes the process of filling the
> ice house on the farm in Colorado.  They lived on the St. Vrain below
> Lyons, and had several irrigation lakes on the farm which were fed by
> the river coming down from Estes Park.
> 
> I was very interested in the particulars of the ice house in the
> video.  It is smaller than I expected -- the one on the farm in
> Colorado was at least twice as large in all dimensions -- 8 times as
> much ice.  Dad said it got filled every winter, and they always had
> ice available for an ice cream social every summer.

That is the "new" ice house in the video. The original one is in VERY
bad shape. This one is a bit smaller and sized to hold just enough ice
for the social. IIRC it is 18' X 24', The blocks are cut to 24"X18" and
whatever thickness the ice is.

The opening over the door is the exit. The ice gets stacked into the
rafters and the stacker crawls out that hole and places the last few
blocks through it.

> 
> I expected to see sawdust being used in conjunction with the storage.
> That's a detail that is missing from my father's description, but he
> implied to me that they could not have done it without sawdust.

Yep, around and between the layers. The sawdust does three things. it
provides insulation and it keeps the ice blocks from sticking together.
Plus it allows the blocks to stack without having to shave them square.
Without it the blocks would fuse and become a solid chunk. Would NOT be
fun then.


  By
> the time I was visiting on the farm during summer vacations,
> refrigeration was well-established and the ice house stood empty
> year-around.
> 
> Larry

-- 
Steve W.