From Lake to Railcar: The Rise and Fall of Rock Lake Ice.
- Robin Lynn
- Jan 23
- 6 min read
Ice harvesting in the northern United States dates back to colonial times, when winter ice was stored for summer use to preserve meat and dairy products. By 1799, blocks of ice were being shipped commercially from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina. During the 1800s, this trade expanded rapidly into a major industry, with breweries and meat packers becoming the largest consumers.
Early settlers in the Lake Mills area cut ice from nearby rivers and lakes, storing it in barns or sheds insulated with marsh grass or sawdust. As meat markets and creameries became established businesses in the 1870s, they built their own ice houses and became active participants in winter harvesting. Commercial ice harvesting in Wisconsin grew increasingly profitable as railroad lines expanded throughout the state and as warmer Illinois winters forced Chicago companies to seek more dependable northern ice supplies.
One early Chicago firm, the Washington Ice Company, harvested ice as far north as Green Bay and shipped as much as 12,000 tons from Watertown as early as 1879. In 1880, the Lake Mills Spike urged local businessmen to consider harvesting ice from Rock Lake as a promising opportunity. That opportunity was soon pursued by W. W. Ingram, a Lake Mills– and Chicago–based entrepreneur. In 1882, Ingram hired a crew to cut ice from Rock Lake and shipped several carloads to Chicago. In 1889, he persuaded the Washington Ice Company to begin large-scale harvesting there, conducting site evaluations and assisting the company in acquiring land along the south edge of the lake adjacent to the railroad tracks. Ever the opportunist, Ingram later negotiated the sale of his own land west of the railroad bridge at what is now Elm Point.
In January 1890, the Washington Ice Company began construction of a massive ice house on land that later became part of Sandy Beach Resort. The four-story structure stretched 600 feet along the lakeshore, ranged from 125 to 200 feet in depth, and could hold 50,000 tons of ice. A 44-foot-high wooden slide ran from the lake to the center of the building, powered by a 20-horsepower boiler and steam engine. The ice house was built in sections and filled as each section was completed. Alongside it, the company erected a tool house, a boarding house with accommodations for 50 men, and a large stable for the horses. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad cooperated by building a sidetrack directly in front of the ice house.
Seventy-five men were employed during the first season, including carpenters, laborers, and ice cutters, with reinforcements arriving almost daily. Thirty men came from Chicago on one night alone, prompting the train to make a special stop at “Camp Washington.” By the following year, 250 men were being hired seasonally. Thousands of carloads of ice were shipped to Chicago in the years that followed, with freight charges reaching $40,000 annually. In 1894, nearly 200 men were employed filling the ice house, and one payroll to the employees totaled $2,000, paid through Greenwood State Bank.
Rock Lake ice soon gained a reputation for exceptional purity, especially when compared to ice harvested from rivers or Illinois waterways. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad used Rock Lake ice in its dining cars for many years. By the 1890s, at least five large Chicago firms were harvesting and shipping ice from Wisconsin waters. In 1898, economic pressures led to the consolidation of most Chicago natural-ice companies into the Knickerbocker Ice Company.
By 1900, Knickerbocker assumed control of the Rock Lake ice house, which had been expanded to 14 bins with a storage capacity of 100,000 tons. The roof was so large that workers played Fourth of July baseball games on it. The winter economy of Lake Mills benefited greatly: 90 to 100 men were housed and fed in the company boarding hotel, where meals cost just 19 cents. The weekly payroll reached $1,400—more than $40,000 in today’s dollars. Two shifts were often worked, with half the men laboring at night, and as many as 70 workers came from Indiana alone.
Disaster struck in November 1909 when a tornado badly damaged three west sections of the ice house. Repairs were made and harvesting continued, although part of the ice was shipped to Madison and Baraboo for storage. Even so, as many as 1,000 carloads—25 tons per car—were shipped annually, with only 10,000 tons stored in the remaining eight-bin structure. Higher freight rates soon became a serious problem, as shipping from Lake Mills to Chicago cost 50 percent more than from Madison. A second tornado in September 1914 further damaged the building, forcing a rapid shipment of remaining ice at a rate of 12 to 14 carloads per day.
Despite these setbacks, ice harvesting at Rock Lake was not yet finished. The Consumers Ice Company, primarily a producer of artificial ice in Chicago, absorbed the Knickerbocker organization and began cutting, storing, and shipping ice from Rock Lake in January and February of 1915. That year, 85 men were employed and 500 carloads shipped. In later seasons, as many as 156 men worked during five-week harvest periods. The final commercial harvest was completed in February 1919. Although the company advertised for 25 men to repair the ice house later that year, no ice was cut during the winter of 1919–1920, likely due in part to increased scrutiny by the Chicago Health Board over the safety and purity of natural ice.
In 1921, E. J. Steinel and Mr. Strauss purchased the ice house property from Consumers Ice Company and opened Sandy Beach Resort by 1922. For a year or two, they reportedly stored ice for their own use in what remained of the ice house before removing the structure entirely. The former ice company boarding house was converted into a summer hotel and dining room.
Even as the Chicago ice trade faded, local demand for ice continued to grow. As early as 1880, Charles Hosley, who operated a meat market, advertised ice delivery to Lake Mills families. Paul Gericke began a small-scale ice business in 1882, initially delivering ice by wheelbarrow—sometimes startling homeowners who turned around to find “the iceman” in their kitchen placing a block into the icebox. Iceboxes required careful attention, as a pan beneath collected water from the melting ice.
By 1886, Gericke had built an ice house behind his West Lake Street home and later supplied both households and creameries. In 1911, he constructed a larger ice house on Campus Street with a capacity of 2,600 tons and used horse-drawn wagons for delivery. Surprisingly, soon after completing the building, he sold the business to J. Farwell of Chicago. The Farwells, who had family ties to Lake Mills through the Engsberg family, operated the business briefly before selling it in 1913. After passing through another owner, the company was purchased by William Degner, who became the community’s primary ice supplier until 1943.
Degner had learned the trade while working for the Knickerbocker Ice Company, where steam engines powered the slide lifts and ice rooms measured 20 feet wide, with three rooms elevated at a time to carry ice to the roof. Ice thickness varied greatly—from as little as a foot to as much as 32 inches—and harvests typically occurred in late December or January, though some winters required waiting until February or March. Early harvesting was done with hand saws and horse-drawn wagons; by 1939, Degner employed 18 men and operated three trucks. Blocks were cut measuring 18 by 28 inches and about 7½ inches thick.
Degner continued cutting ice for more than 30 years, despite accidents that included a runaway team of horses and a serious injury caused by a blasting cap exploding in his hand while working on the L. D. Fargo Library. By 1943, wartime labor shortages and the growing availability of electric refrigerators forced the business to close. “We don’t know how Lake Mills will get along without the ice service,” Mrs. Degner remarked at the time, noting that summer resort goers in particular would miss it. She had assisted her husband for years by keeping the books and answering the phone.
Those winter days—watching crews cut, chisel, and guide massive blocks of ice through channels, up ramps, and onto waiting wagons and trucks—are now only memories. Ice harvesting was unpredictable and often hazardous, yet for more than sixty years Rock Lake ice brought a financial bonanza to Lake Mills and became an enduring part of the community’s identity.