Cold stuff!

Sawing the blocks of ice - click to enlarge
Photo: Gabor Degre Bangor Daily News
 

  When I was little we went to my grandparents house in Shapleigh, Maine to visit on Sundays.  During the winter it was common to see men on Mousam Lake at the "foot of the pond" cutting ice.  Both of my grandfathers had one of these saws for harvesting ice.
  Now that I live a little further north I know that the oldest business in Brewer is Getchell Brothers Ice Company.  They manufacture ice now but back in the day ice was harvested on the Penobscot River.  That business is now about 120 years old.  Ice was loaded onto ships and taken to Boston and Philadelphia.
  All over the country, probably the world, places with cold weather and access to plenty of water people were harvesting ice.  Stored in sawdust the ice lasted well into summer and fall.  Ice houses were a common sight, usually near the railroads when ice was delivered to businesses and homes all over the country.

Sawing ice, the "pitchfork" looking tool broke off the blocks. - click to enlarge
Photo: Gabor Degre, Bangor Daily News

Blocks, packed in sawdust in the ice house. - click to enlarge
Photo Gabor Degre, Bangor Daily News