Until two centuries ago, ice was just an unfortunate side effect of winter. But in the early 1800's, one man saw dollar signs in frozen ponds and figured out how to store ice blocks throughout the year. Ice cutting in the dead of winter was a big economic and social event in past centuries. Ice was harvested from rivers, ponds, and lakes and stored in ice houses. Ice and snow would be taken into the ice house and packed with insulation - often straw or sawdust - sometimes providing natural refrigeration for two years.