Cutting ice from the Susquehanna River, as well as ponds, and lakes across Pennsylvania, and storing it for use was big business. Modern refrigeration methods led to a decline in the business. Newspapers from the Susquehanna Valley followed the work during the winter, discussing te quantity and the quality of the ice.

Ice has become a necessity, and the quality of the article, as well as the quantity, is watched in the wintertime by the dealers with pretty much the same anxiety as the farmer watches his growing crops in midsummer. The ice harvest this season has been a very abundant one, and the ice is of a very superior quality: thick, clear, and solid. Nearly all the dealers, as well as private parties, have secured their supply and there need be no fear of an ice famine next Summer. Williamsport Daily Gazette and Bulletin (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) February 04, 1868, Page 02

The ice houses about town are now being filled with an excellent quality of ice, averaging from ten to twelve inches in thickness, and as clear as crystal. There never has been a better winter for ice harvesting than this one.  Elk County Advocate (Ridgway, Pennsylvania) January 21, 1875, Page 03

The ice harvest is at its height just now and many teams were at the lake yesterday. The ice gathered is nearly ten inches in thickness. The Canton Independent-Sentinel (Canton, Pennsylvania, December 10, 1880, Page 08

Only the ice men have their harvest in midwinter, and they are now engaged in putting it under shelter. In this locality, everybody engaged in the business is busily at work. We saw ice this morning fully nine inches thick, without any admixture of snow and clear as ice ever gets to be -a most beautiful article, in fact, although some is being housed that is neither inviting in appearance nor of superior quality, Pottsville Republican (Pottsville, Pennsylvania) January 20, 1886, Page 04

William S. Lawrence of Mausdale yesterday started up his ice plant at the dam on Mahoning Creek just north of the (Danville) Borough and is harvesting ice a foot thick of an excellent quality. This is unusually early in the season for cutting ice. The equipment of the plant, too, is such as to merit special notice. In the history of Danville, it is probably the first time that steam was ever employed in harvesting ice. Horsepower was previously employed at the plant on the cindertip. The dam on Mahoning Creek at this point forms a reservoir of pure water. Montour American December 17, 1903, Page 01