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Tons of Ice Help Preserve a Gorham Tradition

February 10, 2010 - GORHAM — No matter what happens with the electrical grid this year, the Merrifields needn't worry about food spoilage or lack of something cool to drink this summer.

They've got more than 7 tons of ice packed in sawdust in a little icehouse on the family farm in Gorham – just like it was done in the old days. The blocks are destined to make some fine old-fashioned ice cream a few months from now.

This marks the third year Lyle Merrifield has cut ice from Dundee Pond along his back acreage. On Sunday, a small army of friends, family and history buffs helped out with the harvesting, employing Merrifield's own collection of vintage ice-cutting tools. Rope, ramps, pulleys and a pair of oxen helped, too.

"I really enjoy the old tools and reading about the business of it," Merrifield said of ice cutting. "I started collecting and restoring some old equipment; there's really not much to getting this stuff back to new condition."

A 5-foot ice saw lined with coarse teeth every inch and a half would have set you back $5 in 1900.

Everyone had a little chore at the pond on Sunday. The day before, Merrifield had carried out the scoring process: cutting a grid in the ice with a homemade device that holds a chain saw. Cutting the last couple inches of depth to the water and then separating and loading the blocks were all that was left.

Some used the long ice saws and elbow grease to cut through the final few inches. Others positioned the floating, freshly cut cakes by attaching a rope to guide the clear blocks up a ramp and onto a trailer.

In between, some used 4-foot ice hooks to shepherd the freshly separated blocks down a channel to the "ramp man" for loading. The kids were especially eager to perform this task.

Folks of all ages were present. Darrel DeCoster, 75, of Cumberland remembers watching commercial ice harvesting at Taylor Pond in Auburn when he was about 7. Back then, large circular saws powered by old car engines scored the ice; the final cut was then sawed by hand.

"The Taylor Pond Ice Co. harvested until sometime in the early 1950s," recalls DeCoster.

On Sunday, with an ice hook in hand, DeCoster's 6-year-old grandson, Mason Beale of Portland, was on the pond getting instruction from his grandfather on the separation and moving of ice cakes.

After the ice was cut and loaded, Merrifield drove truck and trailer the eighth-mile to his 10-by-10-foot icehouse, where another ramp was waiting. With a 140-pound, 14-inch thick ice cake positioned on the ramp, two yoked oxen hauled on a rope and dragged it up the chute into the icehouse. Folks waited inside with tongs to slide the blocks tightly into position.

Merrifield leaves the ice about 8 inches off the walls; this space gets packed with sawdust. In addition to that, another 8 inches of fiberglass insulation are built into the walls of the structure. Once it was all in, the top got covered with 20 more inches of sawdust.

"If we didn't plan on using it this summer, that ice would last for two to three years without any problem," said Merrifield. "I've read some history stating that when some companies went bankrupt, folks would take over a business and find houses with good ice that had sat for five years."

For Merrifield, who also runs a maple syrup operation, ice harvesting is just another excuse to use old equipment and have fun with friends on the farm.

"Ice is very much weather-dependent," Merrifield said. "In the last week or two, things really came together. Now we've got a big crowd here today, and we're feeding them beans and hot dogs. I'm sure we'll keep right on doing it other years."

by DON PERKINS, Portland Press Herald, February 10, 2010

Lakes: Taylor Pond
Regions: Sebago


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