When the ice was about 14" thick loading would start. One power saw would cut the length of the field at the marks. The other would cut crosswise between every other mark, set to cut within 4" of going through the ice. This would prevent water from the open side running across the field and freezing the saw cuts shut. Handsaws were then used to finish the cut. They would cut out every ten or twelve cakes, this was called a bar, and Splitters (bold text is workers job title) using splitting chisels would split out the bar.

The ice bar was then pushed by Floaters with a pike pole towards the ramp or head. Here another Splitter would split each cake from the bar with his chisel. All the while more bars were being floated towards the ramp. Here the Feeder using a pike pole would turn over the ice exposing the mush ice (soft).He would then push the outer end of the cake under the water so a slat from the elevator chain would catch it and pull it up the incline to the bridge level.

Then the cake moved to a conveyor where the cake went under a planer, which would trim off any poor ice from the top. This made all the ice loaded the same size. Chips from the planer dropped into a large pile next to the lake. The pile of ice chips was wonderful for homemade ice cream and for children to slide down on weekends. This discarded pile of ice lasted well into early summer, and some people may have made 4th of July ice cream with the chips. Cake ice was discarded if it had weeds in it. Children in the winter would love to play in it. Local residents would come by and take it for use in their iceboxes. They could also chip off small pieces for cooling their refreshments.