4 
6 BULLETIN 690, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
ply into this product. Some creameries made only a few gallons 
per. day, while others engaged in ice-cream production more exten- 
sively. In most instances it was sold to local trade in the city in 
which the creamery was located. The annual receipts from the sale 
of ice cream at the creameries varied from less than $1,000 to over 
$35,000. 
TRANSPORTATION OF CREAMERY BUTTER TO MARKET. 
The shipment of butter to market was usually made by refrigera- 
tor freight. The schedules in most instances provided for weekly 
or semiweekly shipments. The butter produced after the shipping 
day, was usually held in storage at the creamery. The facilities for 
storage at most creameries consisted of insulated storage rooms which 
were kept cold either by the use of ice or mechanical refrigeration. 
About 92 per cent of the creameries used ice, as it was considered 
cheaper. | 
In furnishing refrigerator service to local creameries, the railroad - 
company either set out an iced refrigerator car on the sidetrack at 
the creamery’s shipping station or carried a refrigerator car in a local 
way freight, which made it necessary for the creamery to deliver its 
butter to the depot where it was ready when the refrigerator car ar- 
rived. The consolidation of less-than-carload shipments into full 
carloads was effected at division points, where a number of cars were 
assembled on parallel tracks or along a platform, and the butter des- 
tined to different markets was transferred into separate cars. (See 
fig. 2.) The butter which had arrived over the different divisions was 
thus loaded so that each shipment could be forwarded by through fast 
freight to its final destination. 
The transportation charges and routing of shipments varied some- 
what in different sections. Northern Minnesota butter in less-than- 
carload lots, routed rail-lake-and-rail via Duluth to Buffalo and 
points beyond, took a combination of rates on Duluth and Buffalo. 
The tariffs of the lake carriers required a minimum of 15,000 pounds 
of “dairy products,” i. e., butter, eggs, and dressed poultry, in 
straight or mixed lots from one shipper for one destination and de- 
livery. For the purpose of economizing in freight charges the Minne- 
sota shippers employed an agent at Dwuth who effected consolidation 
of the shipments at that point. 
The all-rail shipments moved through Chicago, while many from 
Minnesota moved through St. Paul. The less-than-carload ship- 
ments took the second-class rate to Chicago, while the carload ship- 
ments took the third-class rate, with a minimum weight of 20,000 
pounds. Usually the less-than-carload shipments were consolidated 
by the railroads at St. Paul, Chicago, and other points in order to 
