EAGLE RIVER – If the freeze holds, Eagle River’s traditional ice castle will make its first appearance in three years in a week or so.
“We won’t start building it until a week from now (around Jan. 8),” says Yukon Jack, a volunteer and long-time area fishing guide who has helped with construction in previous years.
“I’ve been blowing snow off the lake and we have about seven inches of ice so, far. When we’re close to 12 to 14 inches, we’ll cut the ice.”
Yukon and other volunteers, along with members of the Eagle River Area Fire Department, haul the cut ice blocks from Silver Lake to downtown Eagle River and erect the castle, which has been a popular attraction going back about 80 years.
As many as 3,000 12-inch-thick blocks are typically cut – weather permitting – and form the 20-foot-high ice structure along Highway 45 North near the Eagle River Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center.
There were no ice castles in the two previous years due to above-average temperatures in December that delayed ice development, but there was one in 2007 when subzero temperatures prevailed and the 10-inch by 10-inch by 20-inch blocks could be carved out of the lake with chain saws.
The ice castle tradition goes back several decades and is visited by locals, motorists and tourists and coincides with events leading up to the annual snowmobile racing championships held at the Eagle River Derby Track. The cool façade, appears both transparent and opaque, depending on the light and view, and varies in shape and size each time it’s built.
History has it that the original ice castle was built by C.H. Hanke, who owned the Eagle River ice route back in the 1920s. Hanke's grandson, Jack Thomas, a current fire department volunteer who helps design and construct the castle, continues the tradition to this day, as long as the weather cooperates.
Forecasts are for colder temperatures this weekend, with low readings expected to hit five or six below Saturday morning and then due to climb a bit Sunday and the following week.
