Harvesters of Winter Cold

Harvesters of Winter Cold. Ice Men Braved the Dangers of the River to Bring in the Ice Harvest. , In the dead of winter, when the Hudson River began to freeze, men eagerly awaited the call to harvest ice. As the ice industry grew, workers from nearby cities, farmers, and fishermen depended upon ice harvesting to supplement their incomes during the hard winter months. In its heyday, the R. and W. Scott Ice Co. employed 100 workers. , Hard Labor , Ice harvesting attracted hard working. hard drinking men who endured back breaking physical labor at freezing temperatures. It was dangerous and unpredictable work, subject to fickle winter weather., The Risks and Dangers , Accidents and injuries occurred frequently. Large pieces of ice sometimes crushed men's legs and arms. Machinery injured many. Men occasionally fell into the icy waters and had to be dragged out by their crew. The risk and danger involved in the ice industry forged a close-knit fraternity among the icemen: Tales of daring stunts and impressive shows of strength and endurance circulated rapidly and earned men heroic reputations. Older men taunted and teased new recruits and crews often played tricks on each other., A Whirlwind Harvest , Each year, the ice harvest ended as quickly as it began. After days of difficult work, ice men were left "somewhat at sea, having worked themselves out of a job.", [Captions:] , Slicing Through the Ice , This ice plow was pulled back and form by a horse along the grooves made by marker. Each pass of the ice-plow could cut two inches into the ice. Occasionally the horses fell into the cold water. The crew then scrambled to haul the horses out of the river. Amazingly, few horses died of this ordeal., Natural Capital , After the ice was separated into sheets, a channel was cut to connect the ice field to the ice house and the first sheet of ice was sent toward the ice house. The sheet was led by a team of horses or by ice-cutters using long poles called hooks to an elevator leading into the house. Once inside, the ice was stacked between layers of sawdust until summer when it would be transported down river and sold in the cities