Ice-cutting in on the Biddeford side of the Saco River in 1912. During the process, the horse-drawn cutter scores the ice and the others break it away in large floes. The man in the distant background is using a saw to cut the ice.

Working in the ice fields and icehouses was very hard and dangerous work. The men who comprised these teams suffered through severe cold and dangerous conditions on a regular basis. As a safety precaution, workers carried a ten-foot pole parallel to the ice. This pole was longer than the hole was wide, bracing the fall and supporting the man’s head above the water. There was little chance of surviving a fall into the icy water without this pole, due to the the swift river currents and the threat of hypothermia.