Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-03
MARsHAI1TowN IOWA. THURsDAY OCTOBER g. 1901

u O1GkJ4AA OOlNA
(which carry the product of the country
Iuntil the grain is wanted for home OF
foreign consumption. 1t is Impossible
for the consumer to take the grain as
fast as the producer rushes 1t to mar
ket, especially in the fall, and If 1T We're
not for the terminal elevators, backed
by large capital and credit, cereal prices
would be greatly depressed. The neces-
sity for the terminal elevators is most
apparent to all thinking men. Large
terminals are now contemplated, or are
under construction in New York, Boston
and New Orleans in the United States,
land in Quebec, Montreal and Port Ar
4 thur in the Dominion Of Canada. When
terminal elevators were first construct
ed they did not run over 100000 to 100000
bushels capacity. One firm tore down an
elevator the other day in Minneapolis
that cost 100000; didn't pay to run 1t;
for it costs but little more to operate
1 3,00o,0 900 bushel plant. Those first ter
lminaI elevators were built of wood,
with all bins about twenty feet above
the main floor, and all belts running
lperpendicularly. The houses cost about
80 cents per bushel capacity, according
to the kind and amount OF machinery
fused. It was soon discovered that an-
Inexes could be utilized and they were
constructed of cribbing, with bins run
lining to within few feet Of the ground.
These annexes were used for storage
purposes alone, the bins were fiat bot
TONED and were loaded and unloaded
by conveyors from the working house;
lat first concave, but now perfectly fiat.
l / think the longest single elevator belt
1 In use is in one of my houses In Minne-
lapolis-1.20o feet long. We adopted the
\ horizontal belt system after had per-
sonally investigated its advantages In
Liverpool and London. The driving
belt in all modern elevators has been
superseded by the rope.
You Will pardon me for being some
what personal, but / have always aimed
to keep abreast OF the elevator improve
ments, and ten years ago my firm be-
came interested in the building OF a
system OF three elevators in West Su-
perior, Wis, of a total storage capacity
OF s. 100000 bushels. The working house
OF i, 900. 600 bushels capacity was located
on the dock and the other two houses
running lengthwise were connected by
steel galleries, the three housese being
PLACID 450 feet apart. We had previously
lost heavily thru fire by the use Of wood
len galleries and We're ut the mercy OF
| the Insurance companies-rates having
become oppressive, and in addition there
was not enough insurance in the coun-
| try TO go around when wheat was high
priced, and with the transfer rates out
from the 1A cents to Y of cent per
lbushel 1t became imperative to adopt
such Improvement as would reduce the
rates of Insurance on grain. Mr.. James
]. Hill built in Buffalo the first steel ele-
vator and 1t proved a success; he built
later one in West Superior. Minneapolis
has two and Chicago one.
About two years ago the hollow tile
tank system for storage was success
fully adopted by, some elevator compa-
nies. Ny flrm were not entirely satisfied
with either. plan. We sought material
Tor elevator construction that would be
Isbsolutely fireproof. one that would
grow stronger with age, would not re-
liquire paint or repair, and we decided
upon the use of cement, and are now
Just about completing a plant costing
between $750,000 and $1,000,000. That
believe to be the most complete and up
jto-date elevator plant IN the world.
Men have come from Liverpool. Montre-
! al, New York and elsewhere to inyesti-
gate this system of construction and we
have had letters Of inquiry from Buenos
Ayres In adopting the cement system
OF construction we did not act hastily,
but made an exhaustive and Intelligent
investigation. We first noticed that the
railway companies were using cement
instead Of stone for. bridge work and
three years ago we quietly erected q cir
cular tank ia feet high and twenty-five
feet in diameter, having an average
thickness Of eight inches, as test, and
had it full Of wheat from early fall un-
| til late spring, and most of the time
since then it has been full of wheat,
when the wheat came out dry and sweet.
The following fall one of my carpenters,
accompanied by an expert spent three
months in Europe visiting Germany,
Denmark and France, and went as Tar
north as Russia, noting and investigat-
ing all the structures built Wholly or
partly OF cement. At Braila, In Rouma-
MIA, large elevator was found owned
and successfully operated by the gov
ernment built wholly of cement. Braila
is situated on the Danube river thirty
miles from the Black sea and handles
about 10000, 900 bushels of grain annu>
ally. Another member of my firm yis-
tied Italy and examined the cement used
in the Coliseums of Naples and Rome
over 1000 years ago. give you these
details that you may know we spent
time and money before arriving at a
conclusion. Our Duluth plant has ca
pacity Of 100000 bushels, 100000 in the
wooden working house and 100000 III
cement cylindrical tanks, each 104 feet
high and thirty-fve feet in diameter,
these tanks being located fifty feet from
the working house and connected by five
conveyors each capable of carrying 20.-
coo bushels per hour. About one third of
the cement part of this tank was COM
pleted last fall and in that part we car
ried 900, 900 bushels OF wheat all winter
ard spring without insurance, and we
snail not carry any insurance on butld-
ing and contents. We are justly proud
of our undertaking. believing 1T to be IN
advance of any elevator construction.
"The most phenomenal growth OF the
grain business has occurred in the
northwest, with Minneapolis and Duluth
as terminals. When we commenced do