Ice cutting  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:
navigation, search Icecutters in Toronto, Canada, 1890s 1919
filmreel of ice-harvesting in Pennsylvania, USA (silent)  Ice
cutting was a winter occupation of icemen whose task it was to
collect surface ice from lakes and rivers for storage in ice
houses and sale as a pre-refrigeration cooling method. Kept
insulated, the ice was preserved for all-year delivery to
residential and commercial customers with ice boxes for cold
food storage.  Ice harvesting generally involved waiting until
approximately a foot of ice had built up on the water surface in
the winter. The ice would then be cut with either a handsaw or a
powered saw blade into long continuous strips and then cut into
large individual blocks for transport by wagon back to the
icehouse.[1] Because snow on top of the ice slows freezing, it
could be scraped off and piled in windrows. Alternatively, if
the temperature is cold enough, a snowy surface could be flooded
to produce a thicker layer of ic