From "Golly Column" 1967, written by my grandfather, W.D. Fish.
An old time expression - "that does not cut any ice!"
But times have changed in 50 or 60 years and we do not have to cut ice. We make it at home in our refrigerators.
A half century ago the late Robert R. Lewis harvested ice on an artificial lake at Camp Moxie, near Seven Bridges, to supply the summer needs of the people of Coudersport.
Hundreds of tons of clear clean ice were cut from the little lake, shot down a slide to the tracks of the Coudersport and Port Allegany Railroad, loaded on cars and hauled to this place. Here it was stacked in a huge ice house and stored for use in the heat of summer.
No doubt a goodly number of men were thankful for the employment this industry provided at $1.25 or $1.50 a day. There was no minimum wage of $1.25 per hour in that day.
During the summer season faithful Nick Gustwick, long since gone to his reward, delivered the ice to local residents fortunate enough to possess a refrigerator or an ice box.
Then came electric and natural gas machines, crude in their early days but greatly improved in a few short years, until today modern refrigeration is found in every home.
Harvesting ice was big business in the day when ice had to be stored in winter.
1 comment:
I remember an ice box like the one in the photograph that was in the Sheldon house. It probably ended up in a burn pile like so many other old treasures that were on the farm.
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