Looking Back: Georgian Bay Ice Harvesting

Long before tourism, a good freeze on Georgian Bay meant ice harvesting could begin its annual operations.

The ice business got underway each year in late January or early February. The coldest temperatures were needed to ensure the ice fields on the Bay were thick and solid.

First, an area was cleared of snow and marked using a horse-drawn plough. Next, workers hand-cut the ice into huge blocks and hauled it from the ice field using teams of horses and sleighs.

By 1951, refrigeration and affordable hydro made it cheaper to manufacture ice. The days of ice harvesting came to an end, and ice fishing took over as the main winter activity on Georgian Bay.