Before the refrigerator, there was the ice box...
No - it's not an armoire or an entertainment center. Ice boxes like the one pictured to the left was a kitchen essential before refrigeration. Keeping food cold is something taken for granted these days, but for the first 40 years of Roslyn's existence, a good crop of winter ice was important for food preservation. Ice stored between layers of sawdust in an ice house in Jonesville (near Lake Cle Elum) was delivered by wagon for home use during spring and summer months.
Cooled by chunks of ice harvested during winter months.
Ice saws and long metal prongs were essential tools for cutting slabs of ice and hauling them away to an insulated ice house. Ice harvesting was big business in the United States around the turn-of-the century with approximately 2,000 ice factories nation-wide. Water run-off from coal mines created Ronald's Anderson Pond pictured above, an important source of ice for residents of Upper Kittitas County.
At least once during the early 1900s, Lake Cle Elum froze solid and provided enough ice for residents for the rest of the year.
A rare sight - circa 1920s - a sheet of ice covering Lake Cle Elum thick enough to support human traffic. That same year, a team of horses, wagon and driver dragging logs across the ice to the lumber mill at the south end of the lake broke through and all were drowned.
Even with ice boxes, however, most perishable food was purchased fresh each day.
Roslyn was home to several meat markets in its early years. Note the chicken carcases hanging on the back and side walls of a meat market owned by George Knopp around the turn-of-the century.
The first refrigerator in Roslyn was purchased by Roslyn dentist, Dr. Low in 1923.
A luxury item for its day, this small capacity refrigerator on display at the Roslyn Museum probably used sulfur dioxide and methylchloride or ammonia as refrigerants.These chemicals were lethal if the refrigerator developed a leak and caused some deaths in the early years of refrigeration. This threat led to the discovery of chloroflorcarbons (CFCs) in 1928 and in 1930, a newer, "safer" refrigerator was introduced using Freon.
Refrigerators made fresh food more accessible...
Before refrigeration, the American diet during winter months revolved around bread and salted meat, but refrigeration made fresh fruits and vegetables available year-round. It also meant daily milk delivery from one of Roslyn's dairies was no longer necessary.
And ice cream was no longer a seasonal treat.
Roslyn's Pioneer Chop House offered "Ice Cream in Season" in their May 1892 ad. Ice cream availability depended on a good supply of harvested ice which fluctuated from year-to-year. A long, cold winter meant a better supply of refreshing ice cream during summer months.
Most frozen foods, however, were kept in a rented freezer space.
The ledger book to the left recorded the names of families renting freezer space at the Freezer Shop - located in the same building that now houses the Roslyn Cafe on the corner of Pennsylvania and 2nd Street. Hunting was a popular way to supplement a family's diet and the Freezer Shop was a handy place to keep their meat supply.