Around the turn of the century many Maine farmers took to the fields in the middle of January to harvest one of the state’s most profitable crops. They called it “crystal cake” or “Kennebec diamonds.” It’s a commodity still in abundance during Maine winters: ice.

A Lewiston Evening Journal article from 1899 sent out the word that the big Kennebec River ice companies like Knickerbocker and Consolidated were hiring for the season. For several days in the beginning of January workers had been watching the ice in the channel deepen from 8 inches to 10 inches and finally, the paper reported, “With exultation in their hearts, they saw that it was up to 12.” Once the ice was at least a foot thick, harvesting could begin.

On Jan. 14, 1899, The Lewiston Evening Journal estimated that the ice harvest along the Kennebec would require 4,000 workers beginning immediately and remaining until the first of March. Common laborers were offered $1.50 a day and an additional $1.25 for a work horse. Those who lived too far away to commute could board for $3 per week, two days’ pay. Stables for were free, but horse owners had to supply their own hay and grain.

Ice harvesting was demanding physical labor made worse by often brutal conditions. Work didn’t halt in bad weather and fierce winds whipping across the wide expanse of the Kennebec only made the ice freeze deeper and the men work harder. They scored and cut and hauled huge ice blocks from the channel to storage facilities along the shore.

When stacked tightly and packed with saw dust, the blocks kept surprisingly well in storage. Sometimes ice was held over for a year or more before being shipped to warm climates like New Orleans, Cuba or even Calcutta. The year before, ice men had cut and stored over a million tons from Maine rivers, but unlike most years, the supply had all been sold before the new season began.

“It’s an unusual situation, but ’tis a cheery one, for it means that there’ll be lots of work for the cutters this year,” reported the Evening Journal.

“In case of heavy snows there will be a demand for even more men,” the paper predicted, “as it will be necessary to scrape the ice again.”

The heavy snows came. In fact, “The Great Eastern Blizzard” made its way up the East Coast in February, depositing as much as 3 feet of snow across New England. “Up to Monday the ice had been harvested at the lowest figure ever known,” the paper reported. “but the present storm will greatly increase the cost of the product remaining to be harvested.”

That was bad news for the ice companies, but good news for any farmers still looking to earn a few dollars on the ice fields before returning to their grain fields in the spring.

Luann Yetter has researched and written a history column for the Sun Journal for the past nine years. She teaches writing at the University of Maine at Farmington and can be reached at luann.yetter@maine.edu. Additional research for this column by UMF student David Farady.

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