Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-12-31
MOVING THE WHEAT.
some OF THE WONDERS OF AMERi-
CAS- GREAT GRAIN HARVEST.

stupendous Are the Operations Involved
in Transporting the Crop From the
Fields to the seaboard 49, 1t Receives
More Handling Than Any other Cereal.
1t is estimated that the wheat crop
of the United States for 1897 is almost
500,000,000 bushels, and that 100000
900 bushels of this will go to Europe
An ordinary freight car will hold
1000 bushels of wheat. 1t will re-
quire $780, 900 cars to move the present
crop. Coupled together in a single
train they would reach from New York
almost to San Francisco. A fleet of
1,500 ordinary grain carrying vessels
will be hardly enough to transport to
Europe the part of the crop that will
be exported. If the Erie Canal gets
only it's usual share of the grain-carry-
ing business, 10000 canal boats will be
filled with wheat, enough to make a
tow half as long as the canal itself.
To convey the grain from the
field to the Atlantic seaboard
costs about 20 cents per bushel.
On the portion of the crop
which must be moved half across the
continent this will mean tens of mil
lions of dollars for the railways and
elevators, lake vessels and canal boats
and for the commission man and the
laborer.
The sacks that are thrown out by
the great harvesters are gathered up
in wagons and driven off to the nea-
est railway station where they are
dumped into grain cars or small stOr-
age warehouses. A grain car is an
ordinary box fitted with an inside par
tition and an extra door of plankng
that can be let down making the car
perfectly tight. The cars from the va
rious branch lines are hurried off as
soon as loaded to one of the great
transfer stations, of which Kansas
City and Duluth are perhaps the larg-
est.
There are two great wheat routes
from the West to the Atlantic sea-
board One is a water route via the
great lakes and the Erie Canal and
the other is a land route via the four
great grain carrying trunk lines. The
former is the cheaper. and the latter is
the more expeditions, and the compcti-
ton between the two prevents the pri
ces of transportation from rising to an
eXorbitant height
At present there are nearly 700 yes
sells which are engaged, for a part of
the season. at least, in carrying wheat
on the lakes. This is more than are
employed in moving the export crop
across the Atlantic and what may
seem more surprising, the largest lake
vessels are considerably larger than
the ordinary ocean craft engaged in
| the same line of work. The new craft
of modern steel construction which
have been put on the lakes within the
past two seasons are among the finest
models of American-built merchant
vessels.
At Buffalo the grain that is brought
down the lakes again passes through
| the elevators for reshipment to New
York and Boston. Its fortunate posi-
ton has made Buffalo one of the
greatest grain ports in the world.
From Buffalo the wheat travels east
ward again by canal and rail The
railway rate between Buffalo and New
York is cents per bushel, and is held
steadily at that price by the Joint
Traffic Association.
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 dire, .ly, but is made by
means of barges. Hhe cars containing
the grain are run into the elevators
again the leg OF long chute is let
down into the cal and the iron cups
carry the grain III Il steady stream 40
so or 90 feet TO tie top of the build
ing, where it passes under the eyes OF
the weighers ana inspectors. Wheat
is GRADED accOT0it to IT'S weight PEI
Winchester bushe. The hopper bin.
have a certain cu..acity in bushels
The weigher sets his scales at the
mark required of 30. l or No >, 2c
cOrding to the lgade to which thu
wheat is supposed d belong, and Wnel
the bar lifts he N, ies lever and iet
the grain run out 10 the bin prepared
for that particula grade.
From the bottt rs of these SAINT
bins streams of wi at run into anoJnc
set of weighing b S. and thence int
the barges that Ii alongside the ele
vator. These ban ses are then towel
alongside the ocean steamships Wh.cl
are to carry the l.ain TO its destina
ton. Here anOthef elevator, this tim
a floating one, picks up the grain
passes it along TO another set of we q
ing scales and thence into the snip
hold The numerous weighings t
which the grain Is subjected act as
safeguard for the different companies
as any discrepancy greater than l pc
cent lost in dust aud in the process O
handling would require an eXplana
ton, and would indicate that some
body had made a mistake.