Ice harvesting on the county's lakes provided employment for farmers in the winter months, with ice stored in large warehouses and insulated with straw so it remained intact even during the summer. Chautauqua County ice, known to be clean and pure, was shipped by rail to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and other markets. Grapes were first raised in the county in 1818, and today Chautauqua County has more farms and produces more grapes than any other county in New York. Successful grape production occurs on the narrow strip of low elevation land bordering Lake Erie, and Dr. Charles Welch moved his production of unfermented grape juice to Westfield to be in the heart of Concord grape country. Early Chautauqua County settlers cleared timber to raise crops and erect dwellings, then used the felled timber for potash, pearl ash, and black salts that were shipped on flatboats also made from the area's lumber. Ash and salts were shipped from Chautauqua Lake to Pittsburgh, Pa., and as far as New Orleans, La. Jamestown, known as "The Rapids," provided water power for saw mills and woolen mills. After the Civil War, Swedish immigrants began settling in Jamestown to work in the thriving woodworking industry. Italian immigrants began arriving at the turn of the twentieth century and quickly found work in fruit and vegetable canneries that packaged produce grown in Chautauqua County's rich soil. Many immigrants also found work in the brickyards, furniture factories, and mills in Jamestown.