We had a good ice harvest. Temperature at 7:30 AM Saturday was -17 degrees. By noon it got all the way up to about 3 above zero. Got right hot. Fortunately no wind and strong sun. The cold caused our 1919 ice saw to freeze up while it was running. With the help of some cardboard on the radiator and some horse blankets we thawed it and continued to cut.

The ice was 10 inches thick. Rosie and Charm the Belgium draft horses, from Black Horse Farm, took turns pulling the cakes ( 4 at a time) up the ramp. They didn’t seem to mind the cold.

We had a roaring bonfire and at one time I counted 22 people huddled near it. One youngster got a little too close and melted part of the back of his nylon jacket. We burned 32 pallets and some pine limbs.

Steamtown train brought between 350 and 375 people to the harvest by bus from the Tobyhanna Train Station. They also were taken to the Coolbaugh Township Bicentennial Museum on Rt. 611 to view the artifacts there. Hot chocolate was served. The steam engine came down to the tracks at the end of the Millpond and greeted everyone with a very long blast of it’s whistle. Quite a sight in the cold air.

Local TV stations were on hand to record the events for the Saturday evening news shows.

The house was filled by about 2:30 PM and straw was placed on top of the ice by 3:30 PM. to keep the ice cold. Tools were put away and will rest till next year (2010) which will be the 17Th year for the harvest.

Most of the questions to the answer Person were ” What are the winning lottery numbers?. The answer person provided the first 3 numbers. Two people asked what do we use the ice for? Obvious answer “To keep things cold.” Local townspeople use it through out the year for picnics etc. If you helped in the harvest there is no charge for ice. If you didn’t help contact me or someone in the Leonard family for permission to get some ice.

We didn’t have the sleigh rides because there was too many people there. The sleigh we had only holds 6 people so there would have been some disappointed people who didn’t get a ride. We decided to cancel the rides. Maybe next year.

Jan 16th Update: Read the Pocono Record Article