The iceman cometh

Rick Smith, a guest lecturer from The History of Monroe County Education Series, took Mrs. Bush's Personal Care Home residents and guests down memory lane.

His subject was ice harvesting in the Pocono Mountains area.

Storing ice practices date back to 16th century when wealthy landowners could build their own ice house to store ice taken from streams, ponds or lakes on their property.

In 1807, the ice trade was started by a New England businessman, Frederic Tudor. He shipped it to islands in the Caribbean. The ice trade expanded to England, India South American, China and Australia. Ice was a luxury for the wealthy.

By the 19th century, large ice houses were built and ice became available to all.

"Thanks to the Jeffersonian newspaper, in 1871 it challenged local Pocono Mountains businessmen to develop an ice company that could harvest and store ice during the winter months and then supply ice during the summer months to Stroudsburg and surrounding areas," said Smith.

Sydenham Palmer, a local butcher, was the first to answer that challenge, harvesting, storing and delivering ice by 1874.

In 1879, there were 35 commercial ice-harvesting operations in the United States; in 1890, over 200; and in 1909, over 2,000.

The ice was initially harvested from the Pocono lakes for use locally by both residents and resorts catering to tourists.

As the demand for ice grew, Monroe County ice companies began to transport their ice to areas outside Monroe County including New York and Philadelphia.

By 1891, Saylors Lake in Saylorsburg was used to supply Bethlehem with ice.

"Four businessmen from Stroudsburg and Hamilton Township purchased Saylors Lake to develop its recreational possibilities and expanded the ice harvesting operation to include an ice house that could store 4,000 tons of ice," said Smith.

"By 1902, the ice house was expanded and had a 30,000-ton capacity. Ice was harvested at Trout Lake and Mountain Spring Lake near Reeders."

He said that in 1908, 130,000 tons of ice was harvested from Trout Lake and the ice house was expanded to 62,000 tons.

"Because of the ice harvesting industry, many man-made lakes were formed in the Poconos. This industry gave seasonal work to hundreds of people in Monroe County until the early 20th century," said Smith.

In 1910, the cost to produce ice was about 6 cents per ton. The cost to consumers was from 20 cents to $1 per hundred pounds.

Natural ice was being threatened by mechanically produced ice, claiming it was cleaner. Natural ice producers argued their product was cheaper.

Ice harvesting started right after Christmas and concluded when the ice houses were filled. The ice house kept ice until the next ice harvest season.

The walls were made thick with sawdust in between. Layers of sawdust or cardboard were placed between layers of ice blocks.

The best places for ice houses were near lakes and railroads. Some operations harvested ice and loaded boxcars for shipment as long as the weather remained cold.

The winters of 1878, 1890 and 1900 were considered "crop failures" when the ice never froze to the depth necessary for harvest, that of 14 inches. Ice was cut into blocks of 22 inches by 32 inches. Each block weighed more than 300 pounds.

During his presentation, Smith showed a video produced by Dr. James Kitchen of film taken in 1920 of ice harvesting on Pocono Lake, to preserve the process of ice harvesting.

It showed how a hole was drilled in the ice to measure how thick it was. If it was 14 inches or thicker, the snow was plowed off first. The ice was scraped to a smooth surface with large, horse-drawn planes.

The boundary of the area was scored into the ice with a hand cutter. A worker with a horse-drawn "cutter" would score a checkerboard pattern in the harvesting area.

An all-iron ice plow had adjustable blades on three runners and was used to retrace the grid, scoring the ice to within 4 inches of the bottom of the ice sheet.

As the ice was now too weak to hold the weight of horses, the final step in the process was cutting through the ice blocks by hand with long-bladed saws.

Workers would saw off very large sections of the sheet, then ride them as they were floated or pulled across the ice toward the ice house. As they approached the ice house, the men would break the large sections into 22x32-inch blocks with a series of wedgelike bars.

Some of the ice companies at the height of the industry were Pocono Mountain Ice Company in Pocono Lake, Poponoming Ice Company in Saylors Lake, The Tunkhannock Ice Company on Stillwater Lake and The American Ice Company in Lake Naomi.

By the end of the 1930s, modern electric refrigerators replaced ice boxes. The ice harvesting industry in the Poconos continued until the 1950s.

"Eventually there was no need for ice to be harvested from Monroe County lakes. But the ice harvesting tradition still continues today.

The Coolbaugh Township Historical Association schedules an ice harvest each winter in Tobyhanna as does Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm, Stroudsburg.