Filling The Ice Wagon, photo by Isaac Simpson, ca.1900

The ice wagon was used in Maine logging camps until around 1920. It was a cart filled with water and pulled by horses. Some water containers had holes in them and some had a board that could be raised to release water. As the wagon was pulled along the haul roads (the “ice roads”) the water would be released from the container and freeze to the road, creating a smooth surface to haul logs the next day.

The job was done throughout the night in the dead of Winter, deep in the woods. Perhaps one of the lonelier jobs in a logging camp…