Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1920-09-18
TRUCKS vs. "DOBBIN"

SeehnS OtheI lieiuo W No'ii " ter displacing Old Dobbin on the citv's pavements, motor trucks are now chugging toward dominance on the rural highways. Their latest achievement is in giving Americas farmers much needed lift in trars- porting the bumper grain crop of 1920.
 Almost overnight, it seems, the truck has become tremendous fac tor in the movement of the nations food supply. A. few years ago, only a few farmers recognized its full pos abilities but today it can be seen from one end of the grain belt to the other carrying full loads of golden grain onward toward their destina- tion.
 This fast growing importance of motr trucks to the grain grower is shown by a survey just completed by the Travel and Transport Bureau of the B. F. Goodrich Rubber Company. Questionaires were sent out to nearly 2,OOO country elevators by the bureau and the answers prove the trucks true position in the grain fields.
 Those questionairres answers which gave percentage comparisons of gram receipts by horse and wagon as com pared with motor truck grain haulage showed that 26 per cent. of the grain is being received at the elevators oy truck. In other words, the truck is carrying one-fourth of the entire grain crop of many sections of the Midwest, a truly remarkable fact whent it is considered that just few years ago the horse and wagon had the field to themselves.
 The territory covered by the ques- tionnaires included Oklahoma, Arkan- sas, Missouri, Kansas, Montana, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Wis consin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Answers were received from a repre- sentative number of elevators Tn each state.
 According to the survey, farmers in Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota are employing motor truck transportation on greater scale than in other sections of the grain belt. In these states, practically all eleVa- tors are being equipped with automa- tic scales and dumps so that the max imum service can be obtained from the trucks.
 A tenor of the replies received in- dicated that the farmers, and eleva- tor men as well, are becoming enthus- iastic truck advocates and see great future for them throughout the grain belt.
 At the present time," said Ely Sal yard & Company, Minneapolis Twenty-Five per cent. of the wheat in North and South Dakota is hauled bv trucks. There is one truck for every 30 farmers. The truck system will increase 25 per cent this year alone and in three years farmers Will be marketing all their grain and live stock via the truck system"
 The Central Graineries Company of Lincoln, Neb., which operates about 70 stations in Nebraska and Kansas, said that 50 per cent. ot the wheat is being delivered by truck in its territory.
 "The truck certainly is substan- tial help in bringing wheat to our el' evators',' the company said, Gas they can haul and deliver it much faster. They are proving speedy that with the car situation as tight as 1t IS no" we have to hold the trucks back.
 .In Western Nebraska says the Crowell Lumber and Grain Company Omaha, 'Where grain is hauled long distances, nearly all of it is hauled py trucks. Some elevatrs claim they do not receive single load during the day by wagon. With the new faclll- ties that the truck dump is furnishing it is only a questin of short tune until practically all farmers Will De using trucks to deliver their grain.
 The same enthusiastic idea about trucks is held by elevator men in all sections of the grain belt, even where failure of crops in past years has pre- vented farmers from investing heaV- ily in trucks as yet.
 The service which trucks have ren- dered wherever used has been three fold. It has saved valuable time for the grain growers at season when every hour is precious. It has enap, led him to get rid of his crop and prevent loss formerly incurred rom bling it in fields and inadequate ware houses. Moreover, it has prov ed of great assistance to the rall- roads, permitting expeditions loading of cars and relieveing the roads or carrying wheat on short hauls'
 It is evident from the reports that the truck came to the grain grwers just in the nick of time, enabling them to handle the bumper crop ln q way which could never have been eoualed with horse and wagon. The truck stepped into the breach and mas proved such an efficient helper that e inh