A black and white photo postcard of two men standing in front of a horse drawn ice Chas Dauber ice wagon. The handles of ice tongs can be seen under the men’s arms. Behind them is the Hartley Grocery Store and Bakery. “5446 Hartley Pure Food Bakery” is seen on the left window. The postcard was postmarked November 22,1907 and was sent to Sidney Connelly Bisbee, Ariz P.O. Box 322. The message on the back reads: “We had a cab the night before Happy” The publisher is unknown.

Before the advent of modern refrigerators, People relied on iceboxes to preserve food. The cutting and sale of ice was quite a fascinating process of yesteryear. In the northeastern states, when the great lakes were frozen over in the dead of winter workers with large saws dragged horses would precisely cut the ice into uniform blocks the blocks were dragged through the water from worker to worker to store in special shed with walls packed with straw. The blocks when tightly packed would remain frozen even into the summer months when the ice was removed and delivered by train to cities across the United States. Children would follow the ice wagons on hot summer days for ice chips to ease the heat. Ice boxes resembled its modern equivalent with the main difference that instead of chemicals large solid blocks of ice were stored in the bottom compartment to keep food chilled. The men went on their deliveries in horse drawn carts. To safely handle the slippery blocks they used steel ice tongs to unload to customers. On May 9th 1910, Warren received a new ice company, The Southwestern Ice Company was founded by Percy Neil and J.S. McGinn. Their storage plant was built in Upper Lowell and their ice arrived from the Crystal Ice Company in Douglas. The Bisbee Improvement Company also sold ice for and also though coupon books they sold. Their prices in June 1922 by the pound was 10 cents for 10, 40 cents for 50 and 75 cents for 100 pounds of ice. By June 1914, the Bisbee improvement company began using trucks to deliver their ice. They made daily deliveries in Lowell, Johnson Addition, And in Bisbee from Main Street, to Naco Road and the Brewery Gulch. For their Alternate day deliveries went to Warren, Bakersville, and Upper Tombstone Canyon.

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