Ice cutting is awinter task of collecting surfaceice from lakes and rivers for storage inice houses and use or sale as a cooling method. Rare today, it was common (seeice trade) before the era of widespread mechanicalrefrigeration andair conditioning technology.[1]
The work was done as a winter chore by manyfarmers and as a winter occupation byicemen. Kept insulated, the ice was preserved forcold food storage during warm weather, either on the farm or for delivery to residential and commercial customers withice boxes. A largeice trade existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, until mechanical refrigeration displaced it. Due to its harvesting and trade, ice was considered a "crop".[2]
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 ahandsaw or a poweredsaw blade into long continuous strips and then cut into large individual blocks for transport bywagon back to theice house.[3] Becausesnow on top of the ice slows freezing, it could be scraped off and piled inwindrows. Alternatively, if the temperature is cold enough, asnowy surface could be flooded to produce a thicker layer of ice.[4]A large operation would have a crew of 75 and cut 1500 tons daily.[5]
Ice cutting was a considerable export industry for northern countries inScandinavia andNorth America during the 19th century. It started in the United States around 1800, and spread to Scandinavia around 1820; by the mid centuryNorway had become a major exporter toEngland,Europe, the Mediterranean, and as far away asKingdom of Kongo,Egypt andNew York.[6]CoastalTelemark had 1,300 workers exporting 125,000 tons in 1895–96, while the Oslo Fjord was the main European export region withNesodden municipality alone employing 1,000 men and exporting 95,000 tons in 1900, at a time when Norway's combined ice export at 500,000 tons stood as the world's largest.[7]
Domestic production and sales were the largest single market source for ice in America and Europe. From the 1850s onwards ice cutting took on large-scale industrial proportions inGermany withBerlin as a key market.[8]In the 1880s,New York City had over 1500 ice delivery wagons and Americans consumed over 5 million tons of ice annually.[9]
Ice cutting is still in use today forice sculpture andsnow sculpture events. Aswing saw is used to get ice out of a river for theHarbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival each year. A swing saw is also used to cut ice out from the frozen surface of theSonghua River,China.[10]Manyice sculptures are made from the ice harvested this way. In some countries at highlatitudes, evenice hotels andice palaces are made.
