Keeping Things Cold

In the days before electric refrigerators with chloroflurocarbons (CFCs), people used ice boxes to keep food cold. A compartment at the top of the icebox held a large block of ice. Cold air circulated down and throughout the cabinet. Insulation in the walls of the cabinet kept the cold inside.

As the ice melted, water drained into a catch tray that had to be emptied often. In the model shown here, the melted ice water flowed freely to a catch tray in the very bottom of the cabinet. In more expensive models, spigots were used to control the flow of water into a pan or separate holding tank.

Ice Saw and Icebox
On the left is a saw used to cut blocks of ice from Lake Arcadia. Ice blocks were stored and used throughout the year in iceboxes like the one shown above to keep things cold. A pan below the icebox collected water from melting ice.

Pulling Ice from Lake Arcadia
This is a view east showing sleds used to carry ice from Lake Arcadia to the ice house.  Note the man in the middle holding ice tongs used to hold individual blocks of ice.