Memories of the Ice House...PFE

These 300 pound blocks were made to ship out with fruit that needed to be kept cold during transit on the railroad

Pacific Fruit Express 1909 to 1973

For over half a century, Roseville was the location of the world’s largest artificial ice plant, the Pacific Fruit Express Company. Throughout hot, dry summer months, long lines of refrigerators cars called “refers” routinely entered and departed the local Southern Pacific Railroad yards heavily laden with the bountiful harvest of California’s fields and orchards.

Dominating the local skyline were massive concrete ice making facilities from which huge 300 pound cakes of ice were transferred via conveyor belts to one of the three lengthy icing platforms, or decks. Along these quarter mile long loading platforms, hundreds of iceman worked around the clock icing, or re-icing refers before sending them on their way to distant markets.

This was dangerous work and required the men to wear personal protective equipment especially on their feet to protect from the heavy ice blocks.

This scenario was repeated season after season without a let up until the early 1950s when self refrigerating steel refers begin to replace older wooden ones. As more and more of these newfangled marvels came online, demand for ice lessened, production was steadily cut, and employees were laid off, until 1973 when ice making stopped completely and the once-busy platforms lay silent and deserted. A year later, in 1974, the world’s largest artificial ice plant, now obsolete and of little practical use, was razed.

Employees using ice tongs to move large ice blocks

Conveyer Belt

This belt helped move ice to the railroad loading platform.

Personal Protective Equipment

These boots slipped over the workers shoes to protect their feet from the heavy ice blocks. Come see these in the museum next time you visit.