Harvesting Ice

Charlie and Milton Wright cutting ice on Helderberg Lake

• Recollections of Homer Warner in 2004---In winter there was ice cutting on Warner's Lake, which occured right on the north end of the lake in front of our house.They had a sled of some kind, rigged up with a gas-powered buzz saw, which could be lowered down into the ice so it would cut the ice into blocks as it was pushed along the ice. The ice blocks were then moved along in channels by pike poles until they were near the shore. At the shore they had set up a raised platform that included an inclined elevator. This lifted the blocks of ice by a chain, much like a hale bale elevator works today. Power for the elevator was provided by an automobile. It had the rear end jacked up, a flat belt was run over one rear tire, and then the belt was run over a pulley at the elevator to power it. Once the ice blocks were on the platform they could be loaded into trucks.

• Recollections of Harold Miller in 2001 about the Miller Ice House.

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  Men harvesting ice. Note the use of pike poles for moving the ice blocks. The man in the middle smokeing is Charlie Haluska
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  Channel left open to move blocks of ice to shore to be loaded
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  Loading the truck for delivery.Men on truck from left to righr, Harold Sholtes, Charles Wright and Ralph
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  Loading ice blocks
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  Altamont Enterprise] - March 28, 1958

DO VOU REMEMBER? By Orlo J. Northrup Ice harvesting on Thompson's and Warner's Lake, Foxenkill Creek and various other places flourished during years when nearly every place of business, farm, or residence had an ice storage place of some sort. The ice fields were laid out with a horse-drawn marking plow, the cakes usually 18 inches by 22 inches being sawed or barred off, and the product was horse-drawn to its destination. There was a field at the Bins' Grove on the south end of Warner's Lake, and another at the north end adjacent to the then Dick Mattice place (now Zwicklbauer's) and the Warner-Strevell places. At the latter place, Dick Mattice was thrown from the plow he was riding, hitting his head, resulting in his death in a few hours. On the south end, George Pitcher turned around over 60 feet of water; and on the light snow being cleaned off it was found two wheels of his ear had been about two feet on less than an inch of ice from the day before's opening. The late Floyd Gibbs had stepped out on snow-covered thin ice, gone through and luckily popped back up through the hole. If he had missed, the ice was thick enough to have held him down. Some one asked him why he did not bi'ing the ice bar he had in his hands back up! It was -quite a EDITOR'S NOTE — The follow- Personal registration of qualified ing information is released by the ' voters for the annual meeting and elec- Guilderland Central School System in tion of Board of Education members |cold, day but he bundled up and was regard to its teaching of reading. i was adopted by the Guilderland Cen-i taken home in a sleigh.

• * * | tral School District Board of Educa-1 Finally, power saws (usually Model

Reading, writing and talking com- , non at its meeting Monday night. The -j- Ford frames and engines) were

than the cakes, cut from the field to a convenient distance from the Bins' ice house, and a wooden chute with the lake end under water, so the cakes were floated into it. A rope with a hook in the end was dropped over the end of the last cake, and up to 20 cakes were pulled up to the ice house about 150 feet from the lake. I furnished the motive power for this filling by the late John Stannard with my young dark iron gray horse "Smoky.'-' The horse required no driver as he went back and forth with no guidance. He was real'dark gray with white face, mane and tail, and white hind legs, fie is now all white, 25 years old, has had 149 different horses hitched with him, loaned to one after another. The late Harvey Van Schoick had him a year and a half. I just got him back from George Zeh after a year and a half loan, and before picking him up Eldon Quay called and has the loan of him at present. He is still at and capable of a good day's w o 4 He was also the carriage horse for the kids who were too small for the ponies at the New York Telephone Company field day in Albany. It was discovered on the morning Of the event that Bob Goetz's mare had cut her leg so she should not be used, so I had to borrow my own horse. (I trust I may be forgiven for the horse mixed in with the ice, but he is truly a great horse. I have owned him 20 years, the longest I ever owned one horse, and he will be buried '•Tetters ""haw W1* n o t so through the grinder). L*a.iei>. "dX|l, .gBjsfqre thfe-iinnovaeQon of. artificial g|S*;|#eMge^afion; fiozen-ice-was a g^-eat " 'industry. The Hudson River was lined with large ice houses. The Alex house and pond were just north of Western Ave. and west of Manning Blvd. Warren Bros.' house and pond were on the south side of Western Ave., with no buildings until the large Jacobie dairy farm at New Scotland Ave. with its row of large stately pines-along the road. (There was ho South-Manning Blvd. ^Candidates ft For School fet Election (Continuedjlfou, jpage 1) road YMCA, the ^fetarfi Machine Accountants association and is a member- and former , M f t . i of the Guilderland Center Cilf Association. Mrs. Briggs has^esided to Altamont for 10 years, antf'Cr husband is the mayor of the villain She received Luncheon March 29 Opens Cancer Drive The kick-off luncheon in the 1958 Speakers will include Trell Yocum, umt_ president; Edward S. Poole, Jr, " tmpaign chairman; Alan Stev or poor sight certain speech defects^ ecniestovn's, Nexeewc utvivne* dcirtefcft°o^r °o- f• t hee S °s;o - lack of naming in the left to right Tr^™J°r^s™l*™™- ™d varied- •Then . * • u " J v v a l " •=>. .ruoie, j r . Physical defects such as poor S r T g ^ 1 ^ ^ . , * ! ! ™ ^ ^ n . S t e v ' cts direction that the process of reading S f t t i J d K ^ ?• ****** f direfor requires changing schools, missini tee r s d l v l s l o n s f l e i d ^ of volun- BChool m the important early years. All these plus many other reasons may keep a child of good intelligence from reading at t he expected time Detecting weaknesses and helping the child to overcome them is each teacher's concern Here the classroom teacher and the reading teacher work together Special material i s recommended and supplied by the reading teacher in certain cases. However, there remains the child whose handicaps require diagnosis on . a n individual t a s i s and whose correcfaon, comes* best in small group work. The reading teacher carries A style show, with fashions from E)aZld"5'"' A l b a ny. also will be featured. Three vacancies on the unit's board were filled last week with the election of Dr. John Mellon, executive vice-president; • Mrs. Joseph Doran, vice-president, and Mrs. Edmund B. Tobin, member of the 'boards of ••directors.

Preparing For Contest Candidates for the •alHriialsfmblfb' speaking contest are 'being prepared at the Guilderland - Central High school. Ten pupils will compete for the Van Wormer prize, "Ehe two Key on this work.

Throughout the total program the _ r , emphasis' is on comprehension and' Club prizes and me two PTA prizes ideas. As the reader develops, his The faculty committee planning the reading expands to. new interests and-April event include Donald-Carlson new tastes m literature. He learns chairman, Edward Behan and Neii study skills and usteML efficient ways J Brown, of locating and evaluating infdrma at that time.)

The late Ernie Hein of McKownville was for many years the representative of the Hygienic Ice Co.

[[h:Altamont Enterprise|Altamont Enterprise] - March 28, 1958