An Interpretation

The Ice Age in Edmonton
by Lawrence Herzog

There's a stunning photo in the Hubert Hollingworth Collection at the City of Edmonton Archives which shows men harvesting ice from the North Saskatchewan River in the 1930s. Few historical photographs more dramatically convey just how much life in Edmonton has changed in the passage of barely 70 years.

Back in the 1930s, perishable foods were most often kept cold by the use of an icebox - an insulated cubicle kept cool by a block of natural frozen ice. These blocks of ice were provided by several companies, most notably the Edmonton Ice Company, established in 1899, and the Arctic Ice Company, set up in 1900 and then reorganized into a new company by William Henry Sheppard in 1912.

It was a natural business for Sheppard, who also owned the Strathcona Hotel and the Edmonton Brewing and Malting Company. Somebody had to keep all that beer cold!

Workers for the companies would cut big chunks of ice out of the frozen North Saskatchewan

River and then take it to the Rossdale plant, where it was stored and shipped out to customers in a wagon pulled by horses. Over the years, such ice harvesting created 60 and more seasonal jobs. The blocks weighed between 50 and 100 pounds and the Edmonton Ice Company had enough room to store 8,000 tons of ice.

The Arctic Ice Company commenced operations on the Ross Flats in a wood frame building constructed near the turn of the century at what is now 100th Street and 97th Avenue. The site also featured a stable for horses that were used to haul ice delivery wagons.

Business was so good that in 1926 the company expanded, constructing a large new building at 100th Street and 97th Avenue - the heart of Rossdale. The expansion came even as the refrigerator was beginning to catch on but so bullish were the owners that they boldly declared, in a substantial advertisement in the June 30th, 1927 edition of the Edmonton Journal, that there could be no substitute for ice.

History shows that the electric refrigerator eventually won, but the ice age in Edmonton wasn't done just yet. The ice was cut into blocks two feet by four feet while still in the water and then lifted out with a grappling hook attached to a chain. A team of horses would then pull the block out of the water and it would be loaded on a sleigh to begin its journey to a waiting ice box.

Ice was harvested off the river every winter until 1950, when the Arctic Ice Company opened its new $150,000 manufacturing plant.