I was scanning through some of the old family movies my grandfather took of the Windermere area from the late 1940’s through to about the mid 1950’s and one strip documented a visit in the winter. When the water freezes over now, we think nothing of hitting the ice with all kinds of powered toys. “Sleds”, ATV’s with special tires, motor bikes with spiked tires, are easily found today. But before the days of these toys, the ice that covered the lakes became a highway and a resource. With wooden boats up on beams, horse teams could pull logs and building materials out to different parts of the lakes.
Ice harvesting happened right out on Lake Rosseau near the town of Windermere. A horse-drawn plough would clear an area where the ice would be harvested and then a grid pattern would be marked out. In the earliest days, before powered tools, all this happened using hand tools. A screen shot from my grandfather’s movies shows a large powered circular saw cutting the blocks and stakes of cut blocks on ready to be loaded. Those old ice tongs that are decorative ornaments today had a real purpose not too long ago.
The ice was stored in a special building where it could be covered in straw and would last for up to a year. In some areas, this was a major seasonal industry that kept harvesters busy 24 hours a day. A domestic ice box might need to be refilled every few days, especially during the summer. Ice was also needed in the transport of produce and meets, which may have had to be re-iced at regular intervals. Imagine a system of refrigeration that was renewable and that requires no power in between refills. Such green progress!
By Tim Du Vernet
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