Iceland, California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Iceland
Cuba
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Former settlement
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 Iceland
Location in California
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County | Nevada County |
| Elevation | 5,407 ft (1,648 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Iceland, also called Cuba for a time, was a small town in eastern Nevada County, California. People there made a living by "ice farming" (cutting and storing ice) and cutting down trees for wood. It was located between Boca, California and the border with Nevada. The town was about 1.5 miles south of Floriston, California and 9 miles east of Truckee, California. It was built near where Gray Creek flows into the Truckee River.
Contents
The Story of Iceland
How Iceland Began
The town of Iceland started in 1867. It was first a construction camp for the Central Pacific Railroad. This camp was known as Camp 20. Soon after, people started calling it Cuba. The name Cuba stuck until 1897. That year, a new post office opened, and the town was officially named Iceland.
The Ice Industry
After the Transcontinental Railroad was built through eastern Nevada County, many businesses started up. They built special ponds to harvest ice. They usually did this by building dams or changing the flow of the Truckee River. Ice harvesting began in a nearby town called Boca in 1868.
A man named Joseph Gray, who helped start the town of Truckee, built a lumber mill in Cuba. Gray Creek is named after him. He also built a dam on the creek to create an ice pond. In 1876, he rented his land to the People’s Ice Company.
Another company, the Mountain Ice Company, also worked in Cuba. They had money problems and were sold in 1882. The company later started up again with a new leader, Rod McLellan. In 1885, he built a large new icehouse. Other ice companies in the area included the Union Ice Company, the National Ice Company, and the Floriston Ice Company.
Harvesting and Shipping Ice
In Iceland, the winter ice often grew thicker than 12 inches. Workers could harvest between 15,000 and 25,000 tons of ice each season. This ice was then covered with sawdust to keep it from melting. It was shipped by train all over the country. People used the ice in their iceboxes to keep food cold. It was also used to pack around fruit being sent to markets far away.
Life in Iceland
In 1880, the official count showed 25 people living in Iceland. However, during the busy winter ice harvesting season, the population would grow much larger. It could reach over 100 people.
The town did not seem to have a school, a store, or a saloon. But there were many ice warehouses and other buildings related to the ice business. Besides the railroad, Iceland was connected by roads to Truckee, Boca, and Floriston. The Sunset Telephone And Telegraph Company also connected Iceland with Truckee, allowing people to make phone calls.
The Post Office
In 1897, a woman named Mary Dysart asked to open a post office. She wanted to name it Iceland. Mary was the wife of David M. Dysart, who was in charge of the National Ice Company's facility in Iceland. She showed that the post office would be just southeast of where Gray Creek meets the Truckee River. It was planned to be about 150 feet from the Cuba railroad station. At that time, she reported that the town had 75 residents.
The Lumber Industry
Besides ice, cutting down trees for wood was another important business around Iceland. Joseph Gray's mill was one of the first. Later, the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Co. and the Iceland Wood and Lumber company were also active in the area.
The End of an Era
By 1923, the ice industry came to a quick end. This happened because new machines could make ice easily. Also, trains with refrigerators meant that fresh food could be shipped without needing natural ice. The post office in Iceland closed that same year. Today, not much is left of the ice harvesting industry. You can still see parts of the dam across Gray Creek and some remains of the old ice pond walls.
