MARCH 30 ISSUE ANSWERS (photo to right): Cutting ice was one of the heartiest vocations for men of Romeo done mainly by part-timers such as farmers and carpenters under frigid conditions. It was done in the coldest months for 24 hours at a time. The photo shows men on Streeter Pond, behind the Bruce Township Fire Station No. 2 on Van Dyke Road, dividing previously scored ice. The scoring was done by a horse pulling a type of plow blade that etched a grid into 22-inch square pieces. In order to completely divide the squares, three foot saws and breaking bars were used. The 16- to 18-inch-thick blocks, each weighing 250-300 pounds would then be floated to shore by maneuvering the cubes with pike poles a five-foot wooden handle with two steel hooks. Once near shore, the ice would be loaded on horse drawn wagons or, after the 1920’s, trucks. Also in the 1920’s circular blades on gasoline engines replaced the horse drawn plows. Then the blocks were either delivered to homes or to an ice house. In 1908 it was probably delivered to the ice house on Cusic Lake. In 1909 Neil Gray completed an ice house 30 by 150 feet on Cusic Lake. Ice houses had thick walls filled with sawdust or straw. In the 1880’s ice was the second largest export next to cotton. Ice was shipped as far as Bombay, India. In 1909 Romeo the price was “4 pieces per week, washed and boxed $150 per month.” For more information take a fun visit to the fascinating Ice Museum in Port Huron. Joan Beringer, Romeo Historical Society staff