(American Ice Company)

ICE HOUSES 

Throughout the 1800's and early 1900's, Lime Lake was an important economic area. In addition to supplying water power which ran the sawmill and grist mill, the Lake became a source of ice. At first this ice was used only locally but in the 1880's, ice houses were built by concerns from Buffalo, N. Y. By the late 1880's, 145,000 tons of ice were being harvested annually from the Lake. This industry flourished throughout the early part of the twentieth century until electric refrigeration became commonplace. 

Excerpts from newspaper clippings ; "Ice will be cheap in Buffalo this summer. Now we can sell ice for what the freight on Canadian ice would cost. This report from E. H. Webster, 1890, cost of ice will be about 50¢ per week, and twenty dollars per year. If the freight Is high we will have to sell accordingly. We have about 70,000 ton stored in ice houses on the East side of Lime Lake, two-thirds belonging to Co-operative and Markham Ice which we will sell in Buffalo this summer. We have added storage for 15,000 ton in our ice house and will have about 45, 000 ton. We will ship ice every day, five or six carloads in April and by May 1st. we will be shipping fifteen cars. All ice is shipped away in refrigerator cars in the "summer ice train", to storage in other cities for their use. Not only does the ice go to Buffalo but also to Cleveland , Lockport and other cities as there is no good ice elsewhere. Lime Lake ice is superior to other ice because It is made from pure spring water. Lime Lake is about 1160'  higher than Lake Erie and about 300 ' higher than Lake Chautauqua. I believe it is the highest lake in New York State, west of the Adirondacks. We gave up cutting ice in Buffalo years ago as there was so much sewage and oil in the Lake Erie water and the uncertainty of Lake Erie freezing, some times the ice was not thick enough to cut. The only place we could cut was inside the breakwater and because of its impurity it could not be used for consumption but only for cooling ice. This year we will use about forty horses, forty men in Buffalo and twenty Lime Lake people,'' ( March 27, 1891) 

Other notes: E. Webster and son working 30 horses at clearing off the ice. Co-operative Ice Co. is using about 12 horses. There is a total of about 100 men and 60 horses helping to clear the ice field. 500 to 600 men will begin to cut ice 10" thick, and 12 more men will be employed in the ice houses. Thursday 1891, large chunks of ice cleared and sold from Markham's Ice House. 200 men are at work. 

February 13, 1891: Up to last week, 536 carloads, about 11,000 ton were removed from Lime Lake at the charge of $3500.00. 60,000 ton are being stored to ship to Buffalo next summer.  Cost to load each car is about one dollar. 

"The Silver Lake Ice Co. expects to begin cutting ice the first of the, week. Over 200 men are employed by the two ice companies at the foot of the Lake. The ice averages eleven inches in thickness .'' 

"The first ice house was built about 1880 by Newton and Armstrong for the Webster Ice company of Buffalo. It was destroyed by fire. A second ice house was built by W. L. Markham and a third by the Citizens Ice Co. of Buffalo on the site now occupied by the Pavilion at the park, about 1888. Three more ice houses were built by the Webster Ice Co. in 1890, 1892, and  1896 so that the total capacity of the ice harvest per year was approximately 145,000 tons. These ice houses were later razed," 

The above information was obtained from the Machias, New York, Chickasaw Sesquicentennial 1827-1977 book.