For over 20 years, Ricketts was "land poor"; he owed much on the mortgages on his vast land holdings, and there were no good means to transport the estimated 1,400,000,000 board feet (3,300,000 m³) of lumber from most of his land to sawmills.
Large-scale lumber operations of that time floated logs on major streams or used logging railroads, but neither was available to Ricketts.
 His small sawmill near the stone house closed by 1875, and he was only able to sell two major tracts of land in his lifetime.
In 1872 he sold 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) north of the park to a group of investors that included himself; this deal seems to have been for shares of stock (not cash), and the deed for the sale was not recorded until 1893.
Ricketts sold 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) along Bowman Creek, including the easternmost parts of the park, to Albert Lewis in 1876; Lewis hoped to build a branch line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad along the creek.
In the 1870s and 1880s, Ricketts tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to find partners and investors who would help him cut the lumber on his land and build a rail line to it.

Finally in 1890, Harry Clay Trexler, J.H. Turrell, Ricketts, and partners formed the Trexler and Turrell Lumber Company and leased 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of Ricketts' land near Ganoga Lake.
The company built a sawmill and lumber town named Ricketts on Mehoopany Creek.
The town, which was in both Sullivan and Wyoming counties, had 800 inhabitants at its peak and extended into the northernmost section of the park.
Rail lines were built to the mills at Ricketts, including the Bowman Creek branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad which opened in 1883, and also provided passenger service to the hotel on Lake Ganoga.
According to Petrillo's Ghost Towns of North Mountain: Ricketts, Mountain Springs, Stull: "Ricketts was on the verge of financial disaster for two decades until the Lehigh Valley Railroad was constructed through his lands."

Trexler and Turrell paid Ricketts $50,000 in both 1890 and 1891, and continued to cut his land and pay him for the timber until 1913.
By 1911, the main sawmill at Ricketts could cut 125,000 board feet (290 m³) a day and was supported by three locomotives with 62 cars on 22 miles (35 km) of track.
Within the park, the area around what became Lake Jean was cut in the 1890s, and Cherry Ridge (east of Red Rock Job Corps Center) and land around Lake Leigh were the last areas cut by the Ricketts mill.
Timber in the east part of the park and along Bowman Creek was cut by Lewis' company, which also used logging railroads and even ran track down the Allegheny Front at Phillips Creek.
Lewis' firm built a splash dam on Bowman Creek to help float logs downstream in 1891, then used the lake to cut ice for refrigeration.
A second dam and lake were added in 1909 and the icehouses were on state park land; the ice industry supported the small village and post office of Mountain Springs.
Ricketts ran his own ice cutting business on Ganoga Lake from 1895 to about 1915.

Within a decade of the railroad reaching his lands, Ricketts was out of the hotel business.
The North Mountain House hotel was threatened by a forest fire in 1900; the subsequent loss of much of the surrounding old-growth forest led to decreased numbers of hotel guests.
Changing tastes may have also played a role in the decline in popularity; the hotel had over 150 guests in August 1878, but only about 70 guests in August 1894.
The wooden addition was torn down in 1897 or 1903, and "despite profits, Ricketts became disenchanted with the hotel business and closed his hotel in 1903", though the stone house remained the Ricketts family's summer home.
Passenger rail service to Ganoga Lake ended when the hotel closed; the fishing club closed that year as well, but was re-formed in 1907.
In 1903 another large fire on North Mountain threatened the sawmill in the lumber town of Ricketts.

Not all of Ricketts' plans were financially successful; between 1905 and 1907 he built three dams to generate hydroelectric power within what became the park, forming Lake Leigh at t
For over 20 years, Ricketts was "land poor"; he owed much on the mortgages on his vast land holdings, and there were no good means to transport the estimated 1,400,000,000 board feet (3,300,000 m³) of lumber from most of his land to sawmills. Large-scale lumber operations of that time floated logs on major streams or used logging railroads, but neither was available to Ricketts.  His small sawmill near the stone house closed by 1875, and he was only able to sell two major tracts of land in his lifetime. In 1872 he sold 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) north of the park to a group of investors that included himself; this deal seems to have been for shares of stock (not cash), and the deed for the sale was not recorded until 1893. Ricketts sold 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) along Bowman Creek, including the easternmost parts of the park, to Albert Lewis in 1876; Lewis hoped to build a branch line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad along the creek. In the 1870s and 1880s, Ricketts tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to find partners and investors who would help him cut the lumber on his land and build a rail line to it.
Finally in 1890, Harry Clay Trexler, J.H. Turrell, Ricketts, and partners formed the Trexler and Turrell Lumber Company and leased 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of Ricketts' land near Ganoga Lake. The company built a sawmill and lumber town named Ricketts on Mehoopany Creek. The town, which was in both Sullivan and Wyoming counties, had 800 inhabitants at its peak and extended into the northernmost section of the park. Rail lines were built to the mills at Ricketts, including the Bowman Creek branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad which opened in 1883, and also provided passenger service to the hotel on Lake Ganoga. According to Petrillo's Ghost Towns of North Mountain: Ricketts, Mountain Springs, Stull: "Ricketts was on the verge of financial disaster for two decades until the Lehigh Valley Railroad was constructed through his lands."
Trexler and Turrell paid Ricketts $50,000 in both 1890 and 1891, and continued to cut his land and pay him for the timber until 1913. By 1911, the main sawmill at Ricketts could cut 125,000 board feet (290 m³) a day and was supported by three locomotives with 62 cars on 22 miles (35 km) of track. Within the park, the area around what became Lake Jean was cut in the 1890s, and Cherry Ridge (east of Red Rock Job Corps Center) and land around Lake Leigh were the last areas cut by the Ricketts mill. Timber in the east part of the park and along Bowman Creek was cut by Lewis' company, which also used logging railroads and even ran track down the Allegheny Front at Phillips Creek. Lewis' firm built a splash dam on Bowman Creek to help float logs downstream in 1891, then used the lake to cut ice for refrigeration. A second dam and lake were added in 1909 and the icehouses were on state park land; the ice industry supported the small village and post office of Mountain Springs. Ricketts ran his own ice cutting business on Ganoga Lake from 1895 to about 1915.
Within a decade of the railroad reaching his lands, Ricketts was out of the hotel business. The North Mountain House hotel was threatened by a forest fire in 1900; the subsequent loss of much of the surrounding old-growth forest led to decreased numbers of hotel guests. Changing tastes may have also played a role in the decline in popularity; the hotel had over 150 guests in August 1878, but only about 70 guests in August 1894. The wooden addition was torn down in 1897 or 1903, and "despite profits, Ricketts became disenchanted with the hotel business and closed his hotel in 1903", though the stone house remained the Ricketts family's summer home. Passenger rail service to Ganoga Lake ended when the hotel closed; the fishing club closed that year as well, but was re-formed in 1907. In 1903 another large fire on North Mountain threatened the sawmill in the lumber town of Ricketts.
Not all of Ricketts' plans were financially successful; between 1905 and 1907 he built three dams to generate hydroelectric power within what became the park, forming Lake Leigh at t
Ricketts Glen State Park