1800’s
By: Arianna and Kat
Men during the 1800’s got ice from the Kennebec River.
They used a cutter to make lines in the ice toshow where the blocks would
be. If the ice was too thin, the ice had to be tapped not scraped.
They used needles and maddles to tap the ice to break the blocks
apart. A perfect block was 22x32x18. The ice blocks weighed 300 pounds.
Every cube they cut would be put in an ice house. They made the ice
houses with double walls and put sawdust in them to keep the cold in. There
were 4,000 ice houses in Maine.
If the weather stayed cold, the ice would be
able to hold a horse. Horses had a very important part in ice harvesting.
They would pull the cutters so the men would be able to cut the ice.
People who cut the ice made 15 cents an hour.
They worked from 7am-4pm. Only adults worked. 20,000 people
cut ice. They used tongs to pick up the ice.
The customers would put a card in their window
to show what size block they wanted. They would pay 25-35 cents for
a one-hundred pound block.