Putting up ice 45 and 50 years ago around Creede was a pretty big project. But even earlier in 1891 when John Grant homesteaded, one of the first projects he constructed on what is now Broadacres Ranch, was the lake on Shallow Creek so he would have a place to harvest ice. That was at the time Creede was getting to its peak and the need for ice was unbelievable.

There were 73 saloons, several meat markets, some pool halls, and ice cream parlors, plus a large number of boarding houses; these all used a lot of ice.The ice had to be cut in winter and stored in sawdust in a building so it was available for use during the summer months. Mr. Grant built a huge ice house on the east shore of his lake. The building held about 600 tons of ice. He would recruit a crew and fill this ice house in about 10 days to two weeks. They would set several tons on the north side of the ice house, then two four-horse teams, hitched to bobsleds, spent the rest of the winter transferring the ice into Creede to the numerous smaller ice houses that were located near the places of business in which it was to be used. With all the coal- burning stoves in town plus the daily passenger train and a freight train every day or two, the soot and coal dust scattered over town would cause the snow to melt and the sledding would have to stop usually late February or early March. As the saloons dwindled as did several stores and boarding houses, the demand for ice was still big, as fish hatcheries were built and put into use and the transferring of little fish requires ice.

In the late teens and early 20's there was a boom of cabin building on the ranches up and down the river to accommodate guests and summer visitors. For their convenience, each ranch put up an ice house and filled it for summer use. There were several ranches that produced trout for marketing purposes to make shipments of fish, two to three times a week. These fish had to be packed in wooden boxes and barrels which were iced from bottom to the tops. The boxes and barrels had no lids so ice could be added in transit. This ice was furnished by the railroad company, so you see the railroad also had several ice houses throughout the country. Mr. Grant passed away in 1907 and his daughter, Elsie, took over the management of the ranch and also the ice business. She later married Arthur Broadhead. They continued with the ice business. In these early years the ice was sawed by hand which was real hard work. There was a channel cut and kept open to the end of a stationary chute (slide) from the lake up into the ice house. These cakes of ice were cut to about 600 pounds each. The guest ranches and hatcheries made blocks 150 to 200 pounds each. Broadheads used a team of horses to pull the ice up into the house. I started to help put up ice in 1921. My first job, of a responsible mature man, was driving the team to pull the ice up the chute in 1922. I was 10 years old and got a dollar a day. I worked in ice harvest one place or another for exactly 50 years (long enough).

During the "Green Deal" lettuce raising industry up here and in the San Luis Valley, there were huge ice houses at all the packing sheds along the railroad track. It was then that power saws were introduced for cutting and trucks were engaged for hauling the ice. This was from the real late 20's to the late 30's.

With the coming of rural electricity to the Creede area and upriver, the ice harvest has become almost a thing of the past, however, there are a few places that still put up some ice; Humphreys Lodge and Broadacres Ranch.