Tobyhanna Ice Harvest Festival - January 16, 2010

I spent the morning of Jan. 16, 2010 at the Tobyhanna Ice Harvest Festival. To harvest ice, they first used an antique power saw to cut through the 10" to 12" ice on the mill pond. A guide on one side of the saw fits into the previous cut to keep each new cut the same distance from the last. Then they used hand saws to cut across these cuts to produce square blocks of ice weighing about 200 pounds each. The blocks were floated to the conveyor via a channel cut through the ice. Any rough edges were shaved and then a horse pulled each set of blocks up the conveyor. The blocks slid down a ramp into the ice house where each block was stacked as perfectly as possible.

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An Jan. 17, 2010 article from www.thisweek.net described the festival further.

"The ice harvest takes place on a lake used by the commercial natural ice industry in the early 1900s. Ice was cut from lakes, stored in huge icehouses, and transported by railcar, providing ice for household iceboxes throughout the New York metropolitan area. The late Bill Leonard Sr. of Tobyhanna planned the ice harvest re-enactment as part of the Coolbaugh Township Bicentennial Celebration in 1994. He began construction of a replica icehouse at the original site before he passed away. His family, friends, and neighbors completed it, and held the 1st modern-day ice harvest in February 1994. Many local folks whose ancestors worked in the ice industry now gather to keep the tradition.

A motorized antique ice saw is implemented for the initial cuts, and handsaws are used to cut the cakes loose. Each ice cake, weighing 200 pounds, is pulled up a ramp into the icehouse. The icehouse holds 50 tons of ice, and is insulated with 8-thick sawdust walls. The ice is used by local organizations during summer picnics.

Natural ice was an important industry. Tobyhanna Millpond #1 was originally dammed for the logging industry in 1856. The Pocono Mountain Ice Company leased the lake from the Tobyhanna and Lehigh Lumber Company, and the 1st icehouse was built in 1895. Horses pulled the ice up an incline to the house. A large 10-room icehouse was built in 1907 at 500 long, 100 wide, and 50 high, with a steam powered conveyor. This icehouse operated until it burned down in 1939. "

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Ice Harvest
• Tobyhanna
• ice saw

[pat2tee]

This is an update to the ice-harvesting process described to my second graders in their "The Icemen" book in the Reading is Fun series! The drawings show horses pulling steel blade plows to cut the ice. Then your same process with hand saws, picks, levering, poling through the water, and up the ramp into the ice barn. As the book says, "It was hard work, but the ice men were used to it."

[jfdrie]

Great video. Good job!!!!!