ICE HARVESTING
Long before modern day refrigeration was available, people relied
on ice to store their perishable foods. Businesses also needed ice
for their use. Since the City of Dixon was located along the Rock
River, it was logical that several companies were engaged in the
harvesting of ice from the river.
During the long cold winters which were commonplace to this
locale, the Rock River would freeze to a depth of 8 to 14 inches,
even at times to 16 inches thick. Crews of men using teams of horses
would clear the ice field of snow and plane the surface to make the
ice smooth.
The ice would then be cut and the large chunks of ice were hauled
out of the river across East River Street to be stored in one of
several ice houses located along the banks of the river. The ice was
stacked in the ice houses with layers of sawdust and hay to help
insulate against thawing until it was needed.
As reported in the Dixon Evening Telegraph on January 10, 1905,
"Sam Watson of the Dixon Pure Ice Company will start the ice harvest
soon when the ice reaches a thickness of 9 inches. It is now at 8
inches thick and crystal clear. Everything is in readiness to not
only fill the big storehouses but to do a large shipping business as
well. New machinery has been purchased and placed ready to load cars
on the spur track to the company's plants. This machinery, as well as
the main elevators, is run by an electric motor."
The Dixon Pure Ice Company employed some 50 to 75 men in the
winter of 1905 to fill the ice houses with 15 thousand tons and the
company had contracts calling for several hundred train car loads to
be shipped during the winter.
In the 1800s and early 1900s the harvesting of ice was a common
practice in the northern part of the United States on its lakes,
rivers and ponds. Dixon was fortunate to have the Illinois Central
Railroad here. The railroad made shipments of coal to the north
during the winter and rather than return south to the coal fields
empty, they reduced their prices to ship the ice shipments. Therefore
the Dixon ice dealers got a better price than others on their
shipping charges.
If the ice was being shipped by train the ice was priced per
carload at $1.00 per ton F.O.B. Dixon. As reported in February of
1910, the majority of Dixon Pure Ice Company's business was from
orders outside the Dixon area.
The long hard winter of 1909 - 1910, one of the coldest on record
in northern Illinois with temperatures dipping to 28 degrees below
zero, produced an ice harvest of over 12,000 tons of ice taken from
the river. It seemed as fast as the ice was harvested, new ice formed
ready for the taking.
Sam Watson, President of the Dixon Pure Ice Company advertised
his prices for ice for the summer of 1910. a Dixon household could
purchase a coupon book for $3.50 which entitled them to 1,000 pounds
of ice as needed. Hotels and grocery stores would be charged 20 cents
per 100 pounds while butcher shop prices were 15 cents per 100
pounds.
In addition to the amount of ice used by the Dixon Pure Ice
Company from the river, the Dixon Brewing Company also cut ice and
stored it for their use. Borden Condensed Milk Factory also had ice
storage houses which needed to be filled every winter.
In a March 1905 story, the Dixon Evening Telegraph states the
Chicago Board of Health had inspected an ice shipment from Dixon Pure
Ice Company and pronounced it to be first class ice in every
particular. This good report meant the quantity of ice shipped to
Chicago would be greatly increased.
In 1922 a report on the sanitary condition of the ice fields in
the Rock River was done by the State of Illinois, Department of
Public Health. The inspection was made at the request of the Dixon
Distilled Water Ice Company who planned to harvest ice for commercial
purposes if the fields were found to be satisfactory. The consensus
of the report showed considerable pollution in the river, but if the
ice was only used for commercial purposes, such as general
refrigeration, it would not be detrimental to health.
Over the years the practice of ice harvesting from the Rock River
provided employment for hundreds of men and was a big contributor to
the local economy. With the advent of mechanical ice making, the
harvesting of ice each winter season came to an end, thus bringing to
a close an interesting part of our history.
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