The Ice House
Fort McKinley was a self-sustaining community through the 1930's, producing its own ice, electricity (through a power plant that was once beyond the ice pond), and its own water and sewer system.
The the ice pond and first ice house were constructed in 1906; an additional ice house was added in 1911. Only the foundations of the second ice house exist today. While the ice pond itself is man-made, it is fed by a natural spring.
Ice harvested from the pond was stored in the ice houses, insulated with sawdust, and was available through the summer.
A survey of the Fort listed the ice pond as an "Officer's Swimming Pool" and so it may also have been used for this purpose.
The the ice pond and first ice house were constructed in 1906; an additional ice house was added in 1911. Only the foundations of the second ice house exist today. While the ice pond itself is man-made, it is fed by a natural spring.
Ice harvested from the pond was stored in the ice houses, insulated with sawdust, and was available through the summer.
A survey of the Fort listed the ice pond as an "Officer's Swimming Pool" and so it may also have been used for this purpose.