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Ice Harvesting
Mon Dec 27, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Ice Harvesting, next on The Weather Notebook.
Commercial ice harvesting ranked among New England’s most important industries in the days before mechanical refrigeration and was a major export. But New England was not the only major source of natural ice, the lakes and rivers of Wisconsin helped make both Chicago and Milwaukee famous. Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook.
The thick, clear and clean ice of Wisconsin’s many lakes provided a major local industry beginning with the rise of the railroads in the mid-Nineteenth Century. With the explosion of rail lines throughout the Midwest radiating from Chicago, Wisconsin ice could be shipped throughout the region. Major users included the breweries of Milwaukee and Chicago’s meat-packing industry.
At its height near the turn of the century, Wisconsin shipped out nearly eight million tons of ice per year. Breweries alone consumed three million tons.
During January and February, the depth of the Wisconsin winter, ice thicknesses could reach 18 to 30 inches. Work crews often removed blocks weighing as much as 800 pounds each.
But the boom was short-lived. By 1920, mechanical ice making and refrigeration had removed the need for natural, winter ice, and the industry disappeared.
An annual ice harvest still exists on Silver Lake outside Eagle River, Wisconsin. But it does not serve the beer or meat packing industries. It provides ice for the annual Eagle River Ice Palace, a popular, 20-foot high tourist attraction. Most winters since 1926, volunteers, headed by the local firefighters, cut and haul nearly 3000 12-inch-thick ice blocks needed to construct the palace . Each block weighs 60-70 pound and is handcrafted to fit the design, which has a different look each year.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. Find links to all of out past shows at www.weathernotebook.org. We are funded by Subaru of America, and Lyndon State College in Vermont, home of New England’s premier meteorology program.
Today's Links
Wisconsin Ice Harvest
http://www.wisconsinstories.org/2001season/frozen/fa_map.html
Wisconsin’s Annual Ice Palace
http://www.eagleriver.org/icecastle.asp
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