130 SNOW—FREIGHTS—CATTLE, ETC. 
SNOW. 
The roads in Massachusetts, with rare exceptions, find little difficulty in clearing the track from 
snow in the course of one day. They only fail to do so when the snow drifts badly, and packs hard. 
To open the road, from two to five engines are attached to each train, with a snow-plough in 
front. The train pushes through until stopped, when it backs off and again advances. 
Snow to the depth of five or six feet, as a maximum, can be cleared in this manner. With 
higher ploughs and additional power, it is possible that slightly greater depths of light snow may 
be worked through. 
Snow a foot deep does not present a very great obstacle—that is to say, the train makes regular 
progress at reduced speed. 
Embankments are far less obstructed than cuts. 
Cuts of twenty feet deep, and upwards, are less obstructed than those of from five to ten feet. 
Alongside of cuts like the latter, snow fences are used. These are board fences, about eight 
feet high, placed some twelve feet back from the edge of the excavation. 
Drifting snow obstructs a train far more than a settled fall; for when the engine is brought to 
a state of rest, and finds it necessary to “back” in order to obtain a new impetus, the snow 
blows in under the wheels, and sometimes “blocks” the train so that it cannot move either 
way. In such cases a large manual force is necessary to clear all the wheels at once. 
Men and shovels are always carried on the train when the fall of snow is great, in order 
partially to open heavy drifts and to provide for the contingency of the train being blocked. 
Freight trains should be discontinued until the road is opened; the work being done by the 
passenger trains. 
Light dry snow is by no’ means so serious an obstacle as wet heavy snow, except in regard to 
its liability to drift. 
In opening the road over heavy gradients, commence working from the summit. 
When the snow opposes a considerable resistance the engines use about double the usual 
quantity of fuel and water. 
Snow-ploughs are generally of two sizes; the larger sizes are from nine to ten feet high, and 
about seven feet broad; the smaller are about four feet high by seven feet broad, and are some- 
times of iron. 
FREIGHTS. 
Average freights during the last eight years from Calcutta to Boston $15 per ton. 
Average for same time from Calcutta to London $17 per ton. 
From Canton to the United States $10 to $18 per ton. 
From Canton to England $26 per ton. 
From Shanghai to the United States $10 to $20 per ton. 
From Shanghai to England $26 to $30 per ton. 
Freights from Boston to San Francisco average since 1849, $22 per ton; at present, $12 
per ton. 
Average freight from China and the East Indies to San Francisco $13 per ton. 
Silks usually pay $5 per ton more than teas. 
CATTLE, &C. 
The total number of live stock carried over the Baltimore and Ohio railway during the year 
ending September 30, 1854, was 164,869, of which number 75,575 were transported a distance 
of 368 miles. 
At the same rate of freight as on the Baltimore and Ohio road it would cost about $36 per head 
for horned cattle from Fort Smith to San Francisco, and about $42 per head from Memphis. 
To transport horses and mules by railroad from Memphis to San Francisco, by way of Fort 
Smith, would cost about $47 per head. 
