History of Ice Harvest on Pleas

History of
Ice Harvest on Pleasant Lake 1928-1952
Presentation to the Annandale History Club
November 2, 2005
Aileen (Larson) Lundeen

Louis Larson was born November 5, 1888, in DalaJarna, Dalana, Sweden. He immigrated to America in 1905 with his parents and seven siblings. His sister was 18 and he was 17. The youngest was an 18 month old sister. Another brother was born in America. Louis Larson's father, Ivars Olaf Larsson, had a small farm, and it was hard to make a living and support his large family in Sweden. At the urging of relatives who had already moved to America, Ivars Olaf sold everything and took his whole family to America . They came to the Brown farm near the Crow River between Cokato and Annandale. Mrs. Brown and Grandma Larson were sisters. (Brown's Creamery Company was started by this family.)

Louis Larson had only a third grade education in Sweden and never went to school in this country. Some of his siblings did attend the Murback School for awhile. Louis and his brother John went to work in logging camps near Big Fork, and probably learned to speak English while there.

Grandpa Larson soon bought a little farm just north of Highway 12 in Cokato. This had a big nice house that I used to like to visit. The house is still there, but someone took away the big wrap-around porch I liked so well.

My mother, Marie Nylen, was born May 25, 1890, in DalaJarna, the same town as my dad, but I'm told the families never mingled there. My mother's brother had already come to America, and he encouraged Marie to come over. She immigrated in 1907, alone and only 17. Uncle Carl followed his father's trade as a tailor, and Marie found work as a domestic with some of the wealthier families in Minneapolis.

I don't know how Louis and Marie were reacquainted in this country, but they were married November 15, 1919, and lived on a farm in the Cokato area. They became friends with Mr. and Mrs. August Ring. August Ring was in the ice business in Cokato, and we think he asked Louis to join him. They worked together harvesting ice from Brooks Lake.

My sister Mardell was born in 1922, and I was born in 1925. Louis purchased the ice business in Annandale from Gene Lundeen, and we moved there in 1928. My brother Donald was born in July that same year.

This is the background history of Louis Larson as I have been told. I knew my father as the kind, tender, gentle spirit he was. His love for his Savior, the Lord Jesus, was uppermost in his life, setting a wonderful example for us kids. He ran his business with integrity and always had a smile on his face.

Our house and one large ice house were located about a block from Pleasant Lake on the corner of Maple and Candlestick. The Glaim family lived in a house between our house and the lake. The ball park was across the street from our house. This park was the scene of many great July 4^th celebrations. Louis was kept busy keeping all the venders' coolers filled with ice.

Harvesting the ice each winter was quite a production and required hiring several men.

In the early years, teams of horses were used to pull sleighs loaded with 400 pound cakes of ice from the lake to the ice house. Several farmers in the area were happy to have something for the horses to do in the winter. I've been told some of these men were Fred Olson, Ernest Olson, Alvin Olson and Albert Schultz. (There may have been others.) The men who worked for Dad were George Johnson, Earl Johnson, Al Rathje, Cecil Partridge, Ken Rudolph, Norman Oletzke, Oscar Anderson, Fred Beckman, Al White, George Houchins, Willie Glaim and Henry Glaim.

Every year Louis would report to the Annandale Advocate when he had tested the ice and felt it was safe to drive on. This would be published in the next issue. The ice had to be between 30 and 36 inches thick before it was ready to be cut. This would be sometime in January. If there had been a lot of snow, it had to be plowed off so the ice depth would increase faster.

The first cut was made with a gas driven motor with a large circular saw attached. This would cut only part way through. There was a guide on the ski of the machine to measure the width of the next row to be cut. There would be crosscuts, too. The rest of the cuts had to be done by hand with a long blade saw. A channel was made to float each 400 pound cake of ice to a ramp that led up to the platform. A pulley system was set up with a large ice tong on the end of a rope. Two or three cakes could be pulled up at a time. The pulley was activated by one team of horses that pulled at command. The platform was the height of the sleigh waiting for its load as the ice came up to the platform. I guess the horses backed up to get ready for the next cake of ice. There was a man operating at each of these areas, so it took several to complete the job. I don't remember hearing that anyone ever fell into the water.

There was only one big ice house the first years. Then another lean-to addition was added as the demand for ice increased. The horses pulling the sleigh loaded with many blocks of ice would come from the lake to the ice house to be unloaded. The first layer or two was the easiest, but the two or three men in the ice house had to line the cakes in straight rows. They had to work fast.

My dad, with the help of John Powers, made the engine (a big Model T engine) that powered the lift that brought the 400 pound cakes of ice up to each new level, one cake at a time. The men had to move up with each new layer to keep putting the cakes in neat rows. Sawdust was used for insulation around the edge and between the rows. I don't know how many layers went into those houses, but that final row seemed very high.

My dad would run the lift most of the time. I don't remember that there ever was a major breakdown of the equipment. Occasionally, Louis would be down on the lake to see how things were going. Probably around 1935, the horses and sleighs were replaced by trucks and tractors, but I liked the horses and sleighs better.

My dad had a delivery service when it started to warm up and people needed their ice boxes filled. He also serviced the pool hall and liquor store. They kidded him because he never bought anything from them (except maybe to buy wine for Mom's fruit cake.)

One of his drivers for a rural route was Al White, and there may have been others.

Louis would be up a 4:30 a.m. to go out and load up the trucks for the day. He had built a platform at the opposite end of the ice house, where he brought out one cake at a time, washed off the sawdust, and cut them into about 100 pound pieces. He had a special ax and the right touch to make them come out just right. Inside the ice houses, high in the ceiling, was another pulley system. There were two long ropes from there with a large ice tong on the end of one rope. This tong would grasp a cake of ice and Dad would pull on the other rope to loosen the cake and pull it along the ceiling track to the platform.

Mother was part of the ice business, too. They had a little shed by the side of the garage that Dad would stock with smaller cakes of ice. There was a small scale where the ice was weighed. It was Mother's job to sell ice from this shed to fishermen, who would come and buy ice to keep their fish cold until they got home, or for their ice boxes at their cabins. Each purchase was maybe 25 cents, but it was something (back then, 25 cents bought a pound of hamburger).

As the gas and electric refrigerators were becoming popular, the Coolerator was invented. These looked like the nice, white electric refrigerators, but used ice. Dad's selling point was that the food stayed fresh longer and never dried out. We even could make ice cubes with a special ice cube maker. It looked like an ice cube tray but had a container across the top to pour in hot water. This sat on top of the cake of ice and sank down into the ice. A special ice pick cut the cubes loose. It was proven that the ice was pure enough to eat, because of aeration and the freezing. (This wouldn't pass code today.)

My dad was having a lot of hip pain and getting tired, so it was time to retire. The business was sold to Mr. Comstock and again to Mr. Gunderson, maybe around 1953.

Louis Larson died October 13, 1956. Marie Larson died January 16, 1971.

Written by Aileen Larson Lundeen (1925-2012)

ICE HARVESTING - Louis Larson and his crew began ice harvesting in 1928. Harvesting on Pleasant Lake usually began in late December. Blocks of ice were transported from the lake to an ice house that was insulated with saw dust, keeping the ice through the summer months. Deliveries were made to area residents by truck. Photo taken in the 1930s.
-photo courtesy of Lake Central Bank (formerly Annandale State Bank) from their centennial celebration calendar.

Annandale Advocate, Jan. 10, 1946: Louis Larson, the ice man, thinks we are going to have a hot summer. He has the usual large crew of men harvesting ice on Pleasant Lake. Each year he increases the quantity, and he usually has to finish the season by bulking ice to Annandale from nearby points to accommodate his ever-increasing list of ice customers.

AA, January 28, 1943: Ice man Louis Larson completed his ice harvest on Saturday after taking time out for a few days due ot the cold weather. The ice was 21 inches thick when he started and 28 inches thick when he finished. Mr. Larson estimates that he has put up around 8,000 cakes of ice. There is considerable melting before it is all used. The average weight of the cakes is 500 pounds. Mr Larson said it is the clearest and best ice he has had for quite a number of years. Pass the Lemonade, please!

AA, Jan 8, 1942: Louis Larson, theh local ice man is harvesting ice this week. Mr. Larson reports the ice to be frozen 15 inches deep. On Monday, when the temperature bounded down to a mere 25 degrees below zero they needed to keep their power driven saw in constant motion, in fear it would freeze up.