The photo shows the Monticello Ice Harvest, circa 1915. Henry Staedtler, the mill pond owner, employed about a dozen men to do the annual ice harvest. The ice was hand-sawn into blocks about 2 feet square and was moved through the water with long "pike" poles to the ice house. A team of horses hitched to a rope and pulley pulled the blocks up a long ramp into the ice house where they were stacked and insulated with sawdust to keep them frozen during the summer. During the summer months, Staedtler used two of his men to deliver ice to

individuals in the village and to supply the railroad cars when cheese was shipped. The last ice was harvested in 1932. At this time the lake had silted up and clear ice could no longer be guaranteed. The ice house was torn down in 1935. From "Monticello Past and Present," 1976.