The great ice harvest
Before the invention of the refrigerator, the ice box was used for cold storage of food. Found in businesses and homes, it was usually a metal-lined wooden box in which a block of ice was stored, eventually melting and draining away, soon to be replaced by another block of ice. Locally, harvesting ice became commercially viable almost as soon as the prairie community began with the arrival of the CPR in 1883.
James Francis Sanderson (18481902), who operated a livery, held the early ice contract for the CPR. His son Duncan Sanderson later co-founded the Crystal Ice Company located on the north side of the South Saskatchewan river, in Riverside. Its rival, the Medicine Hat Ice Company, operated on the south side of the river, near Division Avenue.
The Medicine Hat Ice Company was established by Henry Cornelius Cooper (1857-1926). Arriving in Medicine Hat in 1886 as an engineer with the CPR, Toronto-born Cooper stayed with the railway until his retirement in 1903. At that time, he established Cooper’s Livery located on First Street, opposite Riverside Veterans Memorial Park and began hauling ice with his horses. Although his livery barn burned down in 1904, killing 43 horses, Cooper rebuilt with a fine brick structure and renamed the business the Palace Livery. Around 1912, when the livery business was becoming obsolete with the advent of the automobile, Cooper sold his building at a handsome profit and started the Medicine Hat Ice Company. By 1913, he had significantly expanded the original ice house storage facility with new ice storage houses and a stable at the rear, complete with manure piles. The original office was located at the former livery building but soon relocated to 39 Division Avenue S.E., near the operation.(*)
In January and February, when the river was well frozen over, workers would stake clear ice, cut it with saws, and place it on sleighs which were drawn by large draught horses. The ice blocks were then stacked and covered with straw in a storage building that had thick walls insulated with sawdust. During the busy season from May to September, the ice was delivered six days a week by horse-drawn covered wagons. Workers started at 5 a.m., delivery began at 7 a.m., and was completed by mid-afternoon.
After H.C. Cooper’s death, his son Earl took over the business and bought out the Crystal Ice Company in 1928. By 1929, refrigerator sales had reached one million. Like the livery business, the ice harvesting industry was doomed.
Earl Cooper sold the business in 1941 to Dan McKenzie. Amazingly, the business continued through the war years, and only ceased operation in 1952.
(*) In the Jan. 6, 2018 article, this recently demolished office building was incorrectly referred to as the storage facility which is long gone.
Malcolm Sissons is the Chair of the Heritage Resources Committee. This column was researched and composed by Committee member Sally Sehn.