THE MELT — Card Designs

A bundled figure bends over a frozen lake, gloved hands gripping a saw. Breath clouds in the morning air. Other workers dot the ice behind him.

A man drives a long two-handed saw straight down into blue-white ice. Shavings fly. The channel stretches behind him in a perfect straight line.

A wide wooden shovel clears deep snow from a frozen lake surface. Beneath the white powder: pristine blue ice, ready for scoring.

A young man watches a master iceman at work. He holds a notebook in one hand and a small saw in the other. His eyes are wide with learning.

A Persian ledar climbs the domed roof of a yakhchal, packing snow into layers. Below, the desert stretches endlessly. Inside, ice survives the summer heat.

A long wooden pole with a iron hook drives into a floating ice block. A worker in heavy gloves guides the block toward the conveyor.

A massive hand saw cuts through lake ice, creating a channel of dark water. Ice crystals scatter like diamonds in the winter light.

Flags and poles mark a grid on a frozen lake. A surveyor kneels, sighting along the lines. Every cut must follow the grid precisely.

Two men swing heavy iron bars in unison, cracking a scored ice block free. The block splits with a deep boom that echoes across the lake.

A heavy sled loaded with ice blocks, pulled by two powerful horses across a frozen lake. The runners hiss against the ice surface.

A worker lifts a 300-pound ice block with iron tongs. The jaws bite into the ice, gripping with mechanical precision.

A burlap sack spilling sawdust over ice blocks in a warehouse. The fine wood powder settles between blocks like snow.

A modest farm ice house, half-buried in a hillside. Double walls stuffed with straw. Inside: blocks stacked to the ceiling.

A horse-drawn ice plow scores deep grooves into a frozen lake. Behind it, perfect grid lines stretch to the horizon. Nathaniel Wyeth's invention revolutionized ice harvesting.

A steam-powered chain elevator lifts ice blocks from a canal up three stories to a warehouse. Workers guide the blocks onto conveyor rollers.

Four powerful draft horses strain against a massive ice sled. The load is enormous. The horses' breath clouds the air. The ice road stretches ahead.

A brewmaster shakes hands with an iceman outside a brewery. Barrels line the alley. The contract guarantees ice delivery all summer.

A Norwegian sailing ship rounds the tip of Denmark, its hold packed with crystal-clear fjord ice, bound for London's thirsty markets.

A fleet of sailing ships departs Boston harbor, their holds packed with Wenham Lake ice, bound for the Caribbean. Frederic Tudor watches from the dock.

Cross-section of an ice warehouse wall: two feet of sawdust packed between wooden barriers. Inside: ice blocks still frozen after six months.

The Knickerbocker Ice Company headquarters on the Hudson River. Barges, warehouses, and offices. A monopoly in all but name.

A horse-drawn plow scores parallel grooves across a frozen lake. The lines are perfectly straight, perfectly spaced. Art and engineering.

A farrier hammers calks onto a draft horse's shoes. The sharp projections bite into ice. Without them, no horse could work the frozen lakes.

A craftsman chips fine details into an ice block with a narrow chisel. Ice sculptures for a grand banquet. Precision work.

A Bohemian ice warehouse (ledarny), vast and ancient. Double stone walls three feet thick. Inside: a frozen cathedral of stored winter.

A surveyor with a transit level, mapping the frozen lake. He measures ice thickness at twenty points, marking each on his chart.

Wenham Lake, Massachusetts. Crystal-clear ice, so transparent you can read a newspaper through a 12-inch block. Queen Victoria's favorite.