The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-03-09
Railroads and Frost.

/, The following recent telegram portrays
some 81 the troubles Of railroads located in
high northern la.itudes: -
EST. LOUIS, March 4.-The Epessing Dis
\ patch publishes an account of the trials
and suferings Of party Of gentlemen who
\ recently came over the Union Pacific rail-
road. The account is given by one Of a
4 party, which included many prominent
gentlemen Of California, New York, and
other eastern States. he says they were
| detained ten days at railway station, and
could not induce the railway officials to
send train out until they held an indig-
nation meeting and autographed to the rail
road committee at Washington about the
| treatment they were receiving. When they
- start they were compelled to shovel
a., different points, and were very
snow az one point they shoveled
badly fed. n. .. one thousand feet
through a snow-dr,-. "a, clear the
long. When they had the - carry
engineer had only steam enough t. tier
them into the depth. of drift. n
remaining two days in this condition aooA
ffty persons started Cd foot for Laramie
ninety miles distant, resching there in
four DAYS, after much suffering. From La-
rarnie they came through to Omaha with
out detention. Over two hundred persons
we're on the train when 1t was lett In INC
snow .c.
This railroad was pushed through Con-
gress under the excitement Of sectlonal
passion. The Government has been MADE
to build the road, and the pockets OF the
CLIQUE Of corporators have been filled 70
repletion with the gains of the adroit
scheme. Each one of them becomes mill
1iopaire, And what have we Pa line OF
road so far north as to be subject to un-
Imaginable dangers and distractions Oh
account of frost. For miles upon miles OF
the route across the Sierra Nevada the
track is sheltered by what are called snow
sheds and these have fallen in on seVeral
occasions from the vast weight OF snow.
The detention and hardships of the Passen-
gers noticed in the above telegram occurred
far this side OF the perilo1s pass Of the
Sierra, where, in June last, there fell
snow heavier than is usual in Messachu-
sets in nidwinter.
Compare this line, beset with discomfort
and danger, with the southern route, where
snow seldom falls OF the two, which
most deserves the assistance of Congress
The southern would never be impeded by
the weather, and its grades would be Tar
easier than the northern. But Congress
having been 80 grossly swindled by the
northern, it will probably vote no cid to
the more practicable and useful one of the
South. That will, however, be built-car-
ried through by its own superior merits
and when finished it will command the
travel between the Pacific and the Atlantic.
And the best terminus of this route Will be
on the Virginia tidewater.
This matter of frost on railroads is grow
ing to be better understood. The roads
that are below the line of severe frosts are
far the safest. Frost makes the iron rails
brittle, and the colder it is the greater
danger of their breaking. Some Of the
saddest accidents on the northern railways
have been caused by the breaking Of the
rails from frost. % ... +.
In this view, the Virginia middleton
Chesapeake and Ohio-line is enhanced in
interest, and its advantages grow in import
ance. 1t is above the line of malarious sum-
mer atmosphere and below that of sharp and
damaging frosts. 1t is the route Of easiest
grades and shortest distances from the
great West to the Atlantic, and when finish
ed will be the favorite Of the vast COM
merce between the East and West.