The Lost Code

Hardships of City Life

Ice box

Circa 1900
Painted wood, tinplate, cast iron
H. 1.19 m
W. 84 cm
The ancestor of the fridge, the ice box used a block of ice in its upper compartment to keep perishable foods cool. The ice, naturally, had to be replaced once it had melted. Before the advent of artificial ice, ice was cut from the river and other waterways in winter.
Seigneurie des Aulnaies Collection

Ice Box

Rural residents seeking to improve their lot by leaving the country for the city wound up poorer and more dependent. They were at the mercy of their employers and the market—which governed the availability of jobs—their landlords, and the fluctuating prices of basic necessities. In 1872, for example, the winter was particularly bitter, and firewood grew scarce and expensive in Montréal. Riots broke out and poor people literally died of cold in their poorly heated homes.