“When I was a kid, I walked to school uphill both ways in the snow!” That expression usually evokes a laugh or groan when parents or grandparents talk about their childhoods.

But have they ever shared a memory of someone “snowing the bridges” when horse-drawn sleighs or farm equipment needed to cross a covered bridge?

I came across the term in a column written by Columbia County historian the late Ted Fenstermacher. Ted served as editor of the Berwick Enterprise newspaper for some 40 years and was a columnist for the Press Enterprise before his passing in 1992. His columns “Tracking Yesterday” and “Postscripts” were popular among readers.

Ted would share a story in “Tracking Yesterday” and would have a follow-up column, “Postscripts” in which he often shared additional information or memories from the readers. Some of his stories were turned into popular books, “Tracking Yesterday” and “More Tracking Yesterday.”

"Snowing in the Bridges" was one of the columns he shared with readers, which was later included in a series of reprinted columns by the newspaper. His remarks compared the modern-day handling of snow plowing and removing with that of years ago.

“The horses were usually able to draw the sleds and sleighs over the roads unless the drifts were uncommonly deep, but pulling them over the dry floors of the covered bridges was something else again.

The problem was even worse for the heavy farm sleds, with their wide, steel-covered runners than for the slender runners of the sleighs, but the snow was really needed for both. Now, bear in mind, that there was no power equipment in those days. The snow first had to be shoveled onto the bed of a sled and then shoveled off again inside the bridge. And, as it was worn down, more snow had to be taken into the spans.

“That sounds like quite some work, and it was. But covered bridge history compiled by Clark W. Kreisher of Fernville shows the fees charged for the work were reasonable. Typical of the "snowing" charges for the old Bloomsburg and Hemlock double-arched covered bridge were $3.50 for Daniel Yocum in 1888 and $1.50 for J.C. Traub in 1902. The first was apparently for more than one storm. That bridge was 180 feet long, and the work must have been considerable. Imagine what a task it must have been to snow the Berwick-Nescopeck bridge (both the original and the second one were covered). Those bridges were 1,260 feet long.”

A Montour County newspaper suggested a farmer might work out his taxes by "snowing" the bridge so that heavy farm sleds could be pulled through. With the advent of the automobile and power-driven farm equipment, the practice no longer became necessary.

In addition to the work of snowing the covered bridges, when heavy snow made it difficult for travelers, horse drawn snow rollers were used to pack down roads used for travel.

Another defense against the blowing and drifting snow in Pennsylvania were snow fences, usually stacked along rural highways until needed. Although they are a less familiar site in the Keystone State, some forms of snow fencing are found in other states, and in other countries such as Japan.