The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-12
to collect their toll of one-half cent per
bushel for transferring the grain.

to collect their toll of one-half cent per
bushel for transferring the grain.
TWO GREAT WHEAT ROUTES.
There are two great wheat routes from
the west to the Atlantic seabOard. One
is water route via the great lakes and
the Erie canal, and the other is land
route via the four great grain-carrying
trunk lines. The former is the cheaper
and the latter is the more expeditions,
and the competition between the two pre-
vent the prices of transportation from
rising to an eXorbitant height. The
larger part of the grain moved between
Duluth and New York city travels by
combination water and land route, in big
steel freight boats down the lakes to
Buffalo. and thence by rail TO New York.
The lake rate from Duluth to Buffalo is
2la cents per bushel during the busy
season. and. as the newer grain ships
have a carrying capacity of 100000 BUSH
els. the business is a profitable one for
them
At present there are nearly 700 vessels
which are engaged, for part of the sea
son at least, in carrying wheat on the
lakes. This is more than are employed
in moving the export crop across the At
lantic. and, what may seem more surpris-
ing. the largest lake vessels are consd-
erably larger than the ordinary ocean
craft engaged in the same line of work.
The new craft of modern steel construc-
ton which have been put on the lakes
within the past two seasons by the Great
Northern Company are among the finest
models of American-built merchant YES
sells
Al Hpl fln IL
down the lakes again passes through the
elevators for reshipment TO New York
and Boston. Its fortunate position has
made Buffalo one of the greatest grain
ports in the world. Two new elevators
which are now III process of compile.
ton there are the largest in the world.
and embody some new and interesting
arrangements for the handling and stor-
age If grain. The burger of these is
the Great Northern elevator. which will
have capacity when completed OF
100000 bushels. The other will he
known as the electric elevator, and is
hem" built for Il capacity of 200. 600
bushels with The probability of enlarge
ment to 1000. 900
AN ELEVATOR RUN BY NIAGARA.
The unique feature of these new eleya-
tors is that in them the old-fashioned
wooden bins have been abandoned Their
place has been taken by series of gi-
gantic cylindrical steel tanks. In the
Great Northern elevator there will be
three rows of these. with ten tanks in
each row. each with II capacity of 100
600 bushels. The steel bins will %
cighty-four feet high, and will be so ar
ranged that they can lie Dramatically
sealed in order To protect the grain from
moisture. Between the rows of lofty
steel bins will be smaller storage bins
into which the grain will first be moved
from the vessels. and afterward elevated
to the larger bins by the usual cup meth
cd. The method of discharging the grain
is equally interesting. The huge steel
cylinders are raised above the floor and
rest on square steel columns. Their
lower ends are bowl-shaped. with valve
at the lowest point. that by simply
moving lever the grain will run out
and can he conveyed by steel tubes to
cars or boats without the use of hoist
ing machinery. Every bit of machinery
i'll the = new elevators will be run by
electricity from Niagara Falls, and l.
600 horsepower dynamoS are now being
built for the purpose The silent ease
and rcsiStless power with which these
tons upon tons of grain are to be NOV
ed by Niagara's mighty arms. when
compare with the old cumbersome meth
DDS of lifting and shovelling. afford n
striking testimonial of the wonders Of
modern industrial development.
From Buffalo the wheat travels east
ward again by canal and rail. The
railway rate between Buffalo and New
DIRK is five cents per bushel. and is held
steadily at that price by the joint traf-
fic association. For several years there
has been a fierce rivalry between the
canal and the railways. and in 1895.
when the project of devoting $4,000. 900
to the improvement Of the canal was be-
fore the voters of New York. the traffic
association put down the price of trans
portation two and one-half cents per
bushcl. in order to show the uselessness
of the state ditch" as il is irreverently
called. In that year the canal carried
only 100000 bushels. while the rail
ways brought 72,000,000 to New York.
The canal men hope that with the i'm
provements now being made on their
highway and the possibility of bringing
grain all the way down the lakes in steel
canal boats. they may regain some of
their former prestige.
METHODS OF GRAIN WEIGHERS.
AT the seaboard the grain is weighed,
inspected and graded, and takes its final
transfer to the ocean vessels. In New
York harbor this transfer does not take
place directly. but is made by means
of barges. The cars containing the
grain are run into the elevators; again
the leg of a long chute is let down into
the ear, and the iron cups carry the
grain in Il steady stream forty. fifty
or sixty feet to the top of the building,
where it passes under the eyes Of the
weighers and inspectors. Wheat is grad
ed according to it's weight per Win
chester bushel. The hopper bins have
certain capacity in bushels. The
weigher sets his scales at the mark
required of No. or No 9, according to
the grade to which the wheat is sup
posed to belong, and when the bar lifts
he moves a'lever and let's the grain
run out into the bin prepared for that
particular grade.