The Virginia enterprise., 1900-08-03

ing. indeed. was full of time consuming
details, and in the end neither party
to trade was likely to be satisfied.
AS consequence. the State govern.
ment. or, III some primary markets, the
local chamber Of commerce, stepped in,
and assumed charge of the whole sys-
tenn of grading and inspection; and
now 10 portion of the great wheat bus
| mess moves with more ease and eff
cheney. degree Of care and accuracy
simply amazing to the outsider being
constantly maintained.
At present the four great wheat elc
vator centerS are Minneapolis, Duluth
Chicago and Buffalo. In the last manned
city some of the elevators have Il stor
age capacity Of from 100000 TO 300
OCO bushels, some of them built Of steel
operated by electricity from Niagara
Falls, protected from fire by pnru-
matte water systems, and having COM
plete machinery for cleaning, drying
and securing the wheat, when that is
necessary.
The elevators are provided with So
called "legs,' lo4g spouts, containing
moving bucket-belts, which arc lowered
| into the hold Of a grain-ladeE vessel.
Here the wheat is shoveled by grimy
Workmen. toiling in a cloud Of dust,
into the pathway of huge stea!l S"ov-
els, which, in turn, draw the yellow
load--it looks from above like so much
sand-to the ends of the ''leys' where
the buckets seize it and carry it up
wards into the elevator, ana distribute
it among the various bins. A cargo of
100000 bushels can thus be unloadcd
in Il few hours, while legs on the other
side Of the elevator will reload it into
ears, six at Il time in five minutes, or IN
an hour fill Il canal boat.
The cost Of all these operations has
been reduced to Il riuiclllouSly low til"
uic-thc entire work OF unloading.
storing and reloadinG rarely adding
more than one cent to the price Of Il
bushel Of wheat
| Carriage to Seaboard.
The transportation Of wheat from the
{ West to the scaboard is Il business OF
almost inconccivaDle magnitude. 1t
means millions of dollars Il year to
railroad and ship owners, and during
the rush season of the late fall, so great
is the demand for transportation that
shippers find difficulty III obtaining
enough cars and vessels.
| Most Of the wheat Of the Northwest
now goes by way Of the lakes, through
the Sault Ste. Marie canal, to Buffalo.
where it is shipped by rail or canal to
New York, Boston, Baltimore and Phil
adelphia.
Few appreciate the magnitude of the
lake shipping interests. which have
been developed to a considerable extent
| by the transportation of wheat. Du-
luth-SllperiOr is the second port in the
United States in point of tonnage be-
ing exceeded only by New York. The
Sault Ste. Marie Canal passes two and
a half times as much tonnage in eight
months as the SueZ Canal passes i'll Il
full year. Lake shipping furnishes,
| moreover, the cheapest transportation
in the world, the rate being approXi-
mately three-Quarters Of 4 mill per ton
per mile.
Some of the greater lake vessels car
ry enormous carg0es-up to 2JO.OOO
bushels of wheat in Il single load. With
out comparisons, it is difficult to form
any conception Of the immenSity Of q
cargo of this size. In Duluth 100 BUSH
els are estimated as carload. At that
rate. cargo Of 232 900 bushels. which
has actually been transported from Du
luth to Buffalo. would fill 800 cars or
nine trains Of forty cars each. At fif
teen bushels to the acre this cargo
would represent the yield of 1G.SOU
acres of land. In many localities Il
farm OF 100 acres is looked upon as Il
large one. 1t would take 1Oj such farms
to raise enough wheat to furnish this
one cargo.
Until recently New York had the
lions share of the wheat export busi-