Kewaunee County Ice: It Wasn't Just for Winter

 

“Be careful. It’s icy out there.” “I’m sick of being inside. When’s the bay ice gonna be thick enough for fishing?” That’s January 2023, though nobody will think of January ice as they get the ice cubes for lemonade, iced tea, or to surround a bowl of potato salad at a picnic in July. Things were far different in 1923 when ice was harvested and important in food preservation. In the 1850s, it was mostly Kewaunee County breweries and saloons that called for ice.

Kewaunee Enterprize* was in its infancy on December 14, 1859, when it told readers to get their icehouse ready. Just as a summer job was getting the woodpile ready to provide winter warmth, within a few years, winter’s job was cutting ice to be stored for summer food preservation.

Summer ice was not a luxury. It was a necessity, and the Enterprize made sure readership knew how to build and properly care for an icehouse by reprinting an article from Wisconsin Journal. In constructing such a house, the Enterprize said, was to keep the ice surrounded by some non- heat conducting substance. Ventilation was important, as was draining for melting water. As long as those things were kept in mind, there were many styles that would work.

The Enterprize told readers that a cheap icehouse for home use would take thick planks to construct a base of about 8 feet square and 8 or 10 feet high. The structure needed to be built in well drained place that was protected from sun. Blocks and sawdust were required to cover the ground to a depth of 1 foot and a plank floor was necessary on top. Readers were told to pack the ice in the middle, leaving a space of about a foot all around, and then to fill that space with saw dust. Next, the ice had to be covered with sawdust and followed by a roof high enough for a window on each side to provide ventilation. When there was an access to the ice, the work was done. If sawdust was not available, plenty of straw worked.

Readership was advised to cut the ice as square as possible using a cross-cut saw. Fine pieces of ice were to be packed between the blocks. Waste not, want not. Anybody planning to do all that work needed to remember that early ice was the best. It was cleaner and clearer.

Wikipedia says ice harvesting got tis start in New England in the early 1800s and by the late 1880s, ice was the 2nd largest U.S. export. Cotton was Number 1. By the 1860s, New England ice was shipped around the country and around the world. Ice transformed the U.S. meat and produce industries.

Ice harvesting in Kewaunee County appears to have started with breweries and saloons which had their own icehouses. Bay or pond ice was hauled by sled to the saloon sheds which were essentially boards fitted between poles and easily removed as the ice was used. Telesphore Marchant was operating his brewery by 1858 and one of the first to harvest ice on Wisconsin's peninsula. Patrons wanted ice to cool their beer and, for Charles, it was no problem as he could get ice easily from the bay. The Ahnapee Brewery stood on the riverbank making its harvest easy for all the years of its life.

Icehouse, upper left, Sanborne Fire Map,
1909

January 1899 was lively on the Ahnapee River. Frank Graessel, the Algoma Vandyke Brewing Co. agent, joined the saloon keepers and butchers when his crew of men and teams put up Vandyke’s ice. In such a banner ice harvesting year, in addition to the Vandyke work, Graessel also had contracts for filling small ice-houses throughout the city with the crystal-clear, 18” thick ice.  

Sturgeon Bay lacks for neither water nor ice, so it was surprising when Sturgeon Bay Brewery Co. harvested ice on the Ahnapee River in 1899, a time when the company sent men and teams to put up 150 cords in the vicinity of Hagemeister’s beer station. They stored another 500 cords at the brewery on the bay. Alaska Lake was another busy place, and that’s where F. Toebe harvested his ice though had to haul it 6 miles to Rio Creek.

Breweries and saloons continued to harvest ice for well into the 1900s. Joseph Cayemburg built a new icehouse for the genial Charles Ruebens at his popular Rosiere saloon in April 1908. In early 1914, saloon keepers in the Champion area were hard at work, but the following year, harvesting was big on the Poh pond in Forestville. Louis Jarchow was harvesting, but for his cheese factories, not beer.

Not all the ice was used for saloons and breweries.

Ahnapee's Boalt and  Stebbins and John McDonald were still harvesting ice during the first week of February 1880. The old hay press building was filled before the Judge and Big Steb turned to the west side of C.H. Sabin’s warehouse. E. Decker & Co.  put up an immense quantity of ice, expecting to cut and pack about 3,000 cords, some of which was piled up on the side of Sabin’s warehouse. Ahnapee Brewery Co. stored ice near the brewery after their ice house was filled. Brummer’s mill pond was skimmed before the companies worked on Hall’s pond. Ice business was booming. The February 6, 1885, Ahnapee Record reported jobber John McDonald’s large crew was going “full blast” filling all the ice houses in the city with superior quality ice nearly 28” thick.

It seemed as if most years both Ahnapee/Algoma and Kewaunee had good ice harvests. The papers mentioned the good quality, blue ice, 18-24” thick, which was often easier to harvest because of the lack of deep snow, and in early 1880, the Enterprise said “hardly ever” was there such an abundance of such fine quality ice. But there were exceptions. In late February 1890, the fears of ice scarcity in Chicago and other large cities were abating. Going from shortages to so much ice reversed supply, leading to an overstock. Northern Wisconsin was sending 400 ton into Chicago daily. More ice came from Iowa prompting one Ahnapee jobber to say delivered ice was going for $1.25 a ton, which was the best price he could get in a non-profitable year.

Northeast Wisconsin had a variety of places to secure good ice, including the bay of Green Bay. Hall’s mill pond in Ahnapee offered excellent quality ice when Henry Schmiling had his crew of thirteen men and five teams working in January 1887. Early in January that year,  the Record reminded harvesters about safety and the law regarding ice: “Any person who shall remove ice, or cause its removal from any stream, pond or lake, sand shall neglect to place around the margin of the opening made by such removal, such guard, or fence as will be a sufficient caution, warning or protection to all persons coming near the same, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than six months, or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.” As it was, in 1899 Hugo Perlewitz was playing on the ice and nearly drowned. Parents advised to caution kids from going to the river. The river was  often too dangerous with insecure ice and Hugo was not the only near miss.

The ice business continued up and down the Ahnapee River. January 1900 saw Forestville’s ice harvest going strong with both Stoneman & Sloan and the Creamery ice houses filled. Martin Schmitz' icehouse was nearly filled when Bernard Awe’s crew and teams were ready to start work. Louis Trottman was the big iceman in Kewaunee where he put up 500 cords or more in a given year. Trottman delivered ice. Henry Schmiling took advantage of the telephone at Wilbur & Kwapil’s drug store and told citizens to call #24-2. Very few townsfolk had the new-fangled thing so it is doubtful many ordered by telephone. Hall’s mill pond was becoming referred to as the trout stream when the best crop of clear ice “ever” came from there. Farmers and merchants from adjoining towns were harvesting a “store of ice” so it is possible trout ice was a notch above mill ice!

The produce business mushroomed when in February 1899 the Deckers spearheaded improvements to the Ahnapee & Western Railroad. They built a 25’ x 50’ icehouse set on pilings, near the round house in the A & W yard in Sturgeon Bay near the bay shore.  The Record predicted more business if Deckers built the railroad south to Two Rivers while telling residents of southern Kewaunee Co. to be aware of such an expansion. As soon as the Sturgeon Bay ice house was completed, it was filled with ice to supply refrigerator cars loaded in Sturgeon Bay and shipped during the berry season. A month later, Sturgeon Bay Fruit Growers put up 100 cords of ice for the shipping season to come.

From the amount of ice put up in January 1899, the Record said Algoma intended to give summer visitors a cool time during the hot months. Suggesting it was time for one of the enterprising citizens to think of putting up a cold storage building, the paper said it was needed if the city was to continue having the best markets in this part of the state for dairy products.

V.G. Pfeil had took the paper’s suggestion. It was reported in February 1902 that he purchased Lot 5 on South Water Street** from the Ahnapee Dock Co. When Pfeil’s building was completed, he accomplished something Algoma needed for a long time. The cold storage building was planned to serve Algoma and surrounding areas. Fruit shippers never had a fruit storage place and Pfeil’s building was a guaranteed success.

Within 20 years, ice boxes were part of many American homes. The wooden boxes were lead or zinc lined and filled with a block of ice, brought by the icemen who were among the most popular men in town. Ice lasted about a day, and in a time when floors were wood, black spots on the wood floors told callers how well the woman of the house kept order.

The ice harvests went on, however conveyors and trucks made the job a somewhat easier. Jobbers were injured in the harvest, however there was some humor too. Kewaunee’s Joseph Houdek found a 400 pound cake of ice on his barbershop after he jokingly said he’d trade ice for a shave. Local iceman Joseph Selner had gone for a shave in February 1935, however when he came to pay, he did not have money with him.  In jest, Houdek said he’d take the ice and an hour later, Selner parked his truck in front of the shop. Houdek scratched off the bill, but then needed to find someone to take it before it melted on the floor.

As late as March 1949, a Trottman & Selner Co. truck went through the river ice during harvesting. Damage was minor but the truck had to be pulled to the opposite side of the river, where it was shallower, and pulled out. That wasn't the only company whose truck plunged, but it happened as the ice business was wanning.

Refrigerators and freezers took over as communities began thinking of water quality, pollution, sewerage treatment and run-off.

* The Enterprize existed to 1865 when its name was changed to Enterprise.

** South Water Street wentfrom 4th eats where it intersected with the bottom of Steele St. Those few blocks are now the easter end of Navarino St.

Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Press, Algoma Record, Algoma Record Herald, Commercial Development of Algoma Wisconsin, Vol. 1, Kewaunee Enterprise.

Graphics: Icehouse and Sanborne Map from Commercial Development of Algoma, Wisconsin, Vol 1; Selner Trottman photo from Kewaunee Enterprise.