Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-11-06
HOW WHEAT Is HANDLED
Description of the Largest Elevator in the
United States.
From the st. Paul Pioneer Pressl

bOo''' VI the isHrGeSt Elevator IN the
United States.
From the st. Paul Pioneer Prcss1
Wheat is now pouring into Minneapolis
at the rate of from 300 to 800 cars per day,
and to those not acquainted with the fac
ilties for handling this enormous uuanti-
ty of grain, the problem of what becomes
of it all is mysterious and interesting.
The double rows of big mills alongside
the falls are greedy monsters, and at this
time there are daily poured down Their
hungry throats about 225 car loads, or
900 bushels of wheat. On q steady
run of n week the mills will consume near
ly 100000 bushels. While portion of the
wheat on arriving from the country is sent
directly to the mills. the bulk of it has to
be first slowed in the elevators to be clean
ed and prepared for milling. and after
ward drawn upon as occasion requires.
description of the method of hand
ling wheat in an elevator is interesting.
The erection of the Union elevator at Min
neapOlis Junction, on the Manitoba road,
this year, gives to Minneapolis the distinc-
tin OF possessing the largest grain eleva-
tor in the United States, and its owners
claim the largest in the world. No other
building III the city attracts so much at
tention as this large house. whose gray,
corrugated walls loom up against the
clouds like mountain. New York and
Chicago have groups of buildings under
the name of one storehouse whose COM
bined capacity is greater than the Union,
but no other independent building in
the United States equals it in size and
capacity. The total cost of the building
is $500, 900 1t it 337 feet long, % feet wide
| ana 1I5 feet high. It's actual storage
capacity is 2,000,0O0 bushels. There was
used III its construction 100000 feet of
lumber, ana thirty two car loads or 10000
kegs of big nails were required to hold the
planks together Mr. Cook, the enthusi-
astic young foreman in charge of the
building, says the actual number of nails
was l2,353,9O0, although he declined te say
that he had counted them. A giant Cor
llss engine of $50 horse power moves the
machinery, and its steady strokes are al
most noiseless. The elevating capacity is
10000 bushels per day, but this can be in
creased to 100000 bushels on pinch The
proprietorS say they can handle the entire
crop OF Minnesota and Dakota during the
season. On every floor of the building are
automatic sprinklers, which deluge the
place in case of fire AS an extra precall-
ton 500 feet of two and a half inch fire
hose and eighteen fire eXtinguisherS are
stored III handy places about the building
An elevator is simply Il mechanical con.
trvance for lifting grain from the ground
to an upper floor. Two railroad tracks
lull (ulbUBll lHt mon elevator, ana tllt
trains of cars are taken in at one end and
pushed out empty at the other. When d
tram arrives at the elevator the cars are
backed up to the entrance, a rope is at
tached, and they are drawn into the build
ing. The doors of Il car are opened ant
two men with shovels as large as roaC
ScraperS drag the grain into deep pit
These shovels are drawn by chains work
ed by machinery, the men guiding then
in their course from the ends of the ca
to the door at the side The average tim,
for unloading car is five minutes, ant
nine, cars can be emptied at one time
one hundred and fOrty-five cars were cas-
lily unloaded in ten hours last week, and
as the foreman remarked, "he was run
ming on only five legs" The legs of al
elevator are the long wooden boxes, o
tubes, extending from the pit into whicl
the wheat is dumped from the car to tn
receiving bins at the top of the ELEVATOR
Running up these legs are belts twenty
four inches wide, on which are fastene,
oblong metal cups, which catch the grail
as they come up through the pit. Afte
being carried to the top it is discharged
by centrifugal force into spout leading
to the receiving bins, where it is weighed
From these bins movable spouts lead t
the various storage bins on the lowe
floors, which are properly numbered
From these storage bins other spouts leat
to the shipping bins, which hold n ca
lOtt'l tttCll lutIt are lpf Ol UnPSe SnlD
ping bins and that number Of cars can b
loaded and sent to the mills without re
filling the bins. There are nine discharg
ing SpoutS, and nine cars can thus b
loaded at once, the time being about tire
= minutes. A car load is from 800 to SO
bushels.
: The elevator is we'll supplied with ap
: paratus to scOur and clean foul grain an,
| put 1t in condition for milling. Durin
, the busy time, when the crews work da
r and night, 100000 bushels can be cleane,
, every tWenty-fOur noIrs. The buildin!
Is lighted with electricity, ANA with duuhl
. crews work can be earned CA dluing tn
l entire twenty .Our hours
The Union WAS built bv MinneHpOli
3 men under the tilcut the Cniuu Elevate
. company, At the solicitation of PreSidcl.
, Hill ot the Manitoba road, IN order to TT
. leNe the tremendous pressure on the roll
: ing stock Of his road, and facilitate tin
) movement of the constantly increasing
5 crops. EX-Gov. John :. PillSbury is pres
. dent of the company, and Horace Pratt
vice president.