The Ice Goes Out by Frank Richardson Pierce
"The Ice Goes Out" is set in an Alaskan mining camp where the annual highlight of frontier life is not New Year's Day but the "ice pool," a betting contest on the precise moment the river ice will break up each spring. Organized by storekeeper Con Welch and his committee, the pool draws wagers from Eskimos, trappers, miners, and expatriates worldwide, all gambling small or large sums on the exact hour of the thaw, with the entire pot going to whoever guesses closest. Two prospectors, Leach and his partner Atridge, live far from camp on a frozen creek. Leach, restless and calculating, has spent the winter devising a scheme rather than simply gambling honestly. His plan: dynamite Welch's safe, steal the accumulated pool money, and flee downriver ahead of the breakup itself, using the flood as cover and a string of remote cabins as hideouts. Since no one in the sparsely populated country would know whether the two men had wintered locally or just arrived, and since escape routes funnel through the same steamer routes everyone uses, Leach reasons the marshal will have no way to pin the crime on them. Atridge, initially skeptical, agrees to split the take. Before disappearing, Leach cannily mails Welch a poke of placer gold with a note requesting twenty ice-pool chances, all guessed under his own name, from a fictitious "Klahowya Landing" address, delivered by an anonymous "honest" Native messenger. This move builds Leach's alibi and cover story, casting him as an eager, ordinary bettor from a distant location rather than a nearby criminal. The two men then rob Welch's safe, blowing it with more force than finesse, and flee onto the river ice, racing downstream ahead of the imminent thaw to reach hideout cabins before the ice goes out and the country floods. Marshal Kenmore quickly assembles a posse upon discovering the robbery, and a deputy finds tracks showing at least two men escaped over the ice itself, a bold and dangerous choice given the timing of the breakup. Kenmore's posse takes off in pursuit, traveling light and fast, gaining precious time before the ice fully breaks. But nature intervenes: a distant siren announces the true start of the breakup, and the men must abandon the smooth ice as water floods the surface. They cut across a river bend to save time, encountering churning, ice-choked floodwaters instead of the clear path they had hoped for. The pursuit becomes increasingly perilous, forcing the posse to navigate flooding terrain, break trail through difficult conditions, and race the rising water itself. At a gorge where the river cuts through a mountain range, the posse witnesses the fugitives trapped by a massive ice jam. The two men leap desperately from ice cake to ice cake, trying to reach the jam and cross to safety before the river's pressure overturns it. One man judges his leap perfectly and reaches the jam, climbing toward the top without looking back at his companion, aware that reaching solid ice means escaping the posse entirely, while failure means death in the river. The posse watches, powerless and silent, understanding the inevitability of what the ice and river will do. The leading man reaches the top and, in a moment of triumphant defiance, waves to the posse below. At that instant, the ice jam gives way under tremendous natural pressure. The man is hurled into the churning river as the jam overturns; his companion, still climbing, is thrown into the flood as well after a brief, futile struggle to cling to the bank. Both men vanish, swept away with the ice toward the sea. A massive spruce log, sturdy from heart to bark, is reduced to pulp by the same forces, illustrating the sheer destructive power of the breakup and underscoring that nothing, human or otherwise, survives its path unaided. The posse, exhausted, abandons the chase, Kenmore observing grimly that only the stolen gold nuggets might ever be recovered, if the river doesn't claim them too; everything else, including the men's bodies, will be destroyed by the ice. Despite their fatigue, the possemen hurry back to camp, eager to learn who won the pool, a detail that suddenly regains its significance now that the greater drama has played out. Near camp, they meet a supply party, who informs them that the crooks were not caught, having gone down with the ice, and, in a final ironic twist, that according to Welch's book, the ice pool itself was won by a man named Leach, using the very chances he had purchased as part of his own alibi. The stolen money is lost, the thieves are dead, and Leach's meticulously constructed scheme collapses into supreme irony: his elaborate cover story becomes his own accidental, hollow victory, a triumph he will never live to claim. The story closes with the image of the ice grinding its way to the sea, nature's indifferent and unstoppable process rendering both crime and contest equally moot. Pierce's tale is a taut piece of Alaskan frontier fiction built on dramatic irony: human schemes, whether the honest gamble of the ice pool or Leach's criminal shortcut, are ultimately subordinate to the indifferent, overpowering forces of nature. The title's literal meaning, the springtime river breakup, doubles as a metaphor for the collapse of human plans and the erasure of individual ambition beneath forces far greater than any one man's cunning or luck.
By Frank Richardson Pierce · First published 1928 · Genre: Adventure Fiction, Crime Fiction, Naturalism · 2,661 words
First lines
A story of Alaska, in which honest men and crooks propose, but inscrutable Nature disposes
The hand of winter was on the Northcountry. The sap had not started to run. Valley, stream and mountain, in the grip of the ice, lay like something dead.
What this Textopian page supports
The Ice Goes Out is listed on Textopian as a short story by Frank Richardson Pierce, dated 1928 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Frank Richardson Pierce
- Date: 1928 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Adventure Fiction, Crime Fiction, Naturalism, Western/Frontier Fiction, Thriller
- Length: 2,661 words
- Structure: 1 section, 70 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Ice Goes Out by Frank Richardson Pierce
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Genres
- Adventure Fiction — Extensive action sequences including an intense ice break-up chase and wilderness survival dominate the narrative, with danger and outdoor peril as central elements throughout.
- Crime Fiction — Central plot revolves around safe robbery and criminal pursuit; features classic heist structure with law enforcement chase and criminal escape attempt.
- Naturalism — Core theme emphasizes nature's indifferent and overwhelming power over human schemes; the river and ice function as an ultimate force that destroys human plans regardless of intent.
- Western/Frontier Fiction — Alaskan gold rush frontier setting with prospectors, mining culture, isolated community, and marshal; captures frontier themes of isolation, hardship, and lawlessness.
Tags
fiction · historical fiction · adventure · wilderness · rural life · Maine · New England · winter · spring thaw · ice breakup · outdoor life · frontier life