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61-578: Founded in 1994, the railroad's purpose was to haul grain from elevators in Merriman and other locations farther west, via trackage rights to its connection with the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern , now Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad at Dakota Junction and a further 20 miles (32 km) by trackage rights to a connection with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe at Crawford, Nebraska . Due to

122-577: A National Historic Sites of Canada . The Warner elevator row is, as of 2019, not designated a historic site, and is still in use as commercial grain elevators. All companies operating elevators in Canada are licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission . This is a list of grain elevators that are either in the process of becoming heritage sites or museums , or have been preserved for future generations. The Manchester Ship Canal grain elevator

183-534: A boarding house and was demolished around 1915 to give way to apartments and commercial development. On September 28, 1879, Dart died at the age of eighty. Up to a week prior to his death, he was described as being in "very good health" and had spent most of the year visiting friends in the east of the country. He was survived by three children, Joseph Dart Jr and two daughters. His remains are buried in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery . Dart lived long enough to witness

244-520: A chain reaction that would destroy the entire structure. (This dispersed-fuel explosion is the mechanism behind fuel-air bombs .) To prevent this, elevators have very rigorous rules against smoking or any other open flame. Many elevators also have various devices installed to maximize ventilation, safeguards against overheating in belt conveyors, legs, bearings, and explosion-proof electrical devices such as electric motors , switches, and lighting . Grain elevators in small Canadian communities often had

305-466: A common sight in the grain-growing areas of the world, such as the North American prairies . Larger terminal elevators are found at distribution centers, such as Chicago and Thunder Bay , Ontario, where grain is sent for processing, or loaded aboard trains or ships to go further afield. Buffalo, New York, the world's largest grain port from the 1850s until the first half of the 20th century, once had

366-629: A destructive fire that gutted much of the nearby milling district. (The Washburn "A" mill was later rebuilt and continued to be used until 1965.) Another example occurred in 1998, when the DeBruce grain elevator in Wichita, Kansas , exploded and killed seven people. An explosion on October 29, 2011, at the Bartlett Grain Company in Atchison, Kansas , killed six people. Two more men received severe burns, but

427-411: A loss of grain shipments from Gordon, Nebraska in 2006, the railroad abandoned the eastern 43 miles (69 km) of its line between Merriman and Rushville, Nebraska . In September 2007, the railroad abandoned the line between Rushville and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Chadron due to the loss of grain traffic to larger main-line loading facilities. In addition to freight service, the railway offered

488-651: A major port city and within fifteen years, the largest grain shipping port in the world. During his later years, he was a lumber dealer with his brother and was a founding member of the Buffalo Seminary . Dart married Dotha Dennison in 1830 and had seven children, several of whom died young. He lived in an elegant home during the latter years of his eighty year life, where he and his wife hosted elaborate balls and dinners. He died in September 1879 aged 80, having been described in "very good health" up until his last days. Dart

549-441: A row along the railway tracks. If a town were lucky enough to have two railways, it was to be known as the next Montreal . Many elevator rows had two or more elevators of the same company. Small towns bragged of their large elevator rows in promotional pamphlets to attract settlers. With so much competition in the 1920s, consolidation began almost immediately, and many small companies were merged or absorbed into larger companies. In

610-546: A single grain-laden boat. Grain shipments were going down the Mississippi River, not over the Great Lakes/Erie Canal system. A merchant named Joseph Dart Jr., is generally credited as being the one who adapted Oliver Evans ' grain elevator (originally a manufacturing device) for use in a commercial framework (the trans-shipment of grain in bulk from lakers to canal boats), but the actual design and construction of

671-552: A small village to among the most prosperous during the 19th century. Within fifteen years of construction, Buffalo had ten elevators, making it the world's largest grain shipping port, overtaking cities such as London in England and Rotterdam in Holland . By 1887, Buffalo had 43 grain elevators worth around $ 8,000,000 (equivalent to $ 237,995,134 in 2023) that could transfer 4,000,000 grain bushels daily. Dart's grain elevator invention

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732-541: A three-hour passenger excursion service as a dinner train that ran through the scenic Pine Ridge area near Chadron. In 2010, the newly formed Nebraska Northwestern Railroad purchased the line between Dakota Junction and Chadron, including the Chadron rail yard. Nebkota retained its trackage rights. In January 2010, West Plains Company, owner of the Nebkota, announced plans to construct a 14 million-dollar grain loading facility on

793-454: A tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor , which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits it in a silo or other storage facility. In most cases, the term "grain elevator" also describes the entire elevator complex, including receiving and testing offices, weighbridges , and storage facilities. It may also mean organizations that operate or control several individual elevators, in different locations. In Australia,

854-633: A village of about 1,800 residents. In 1822, he went into the hat, leather and fur business with a man named Joseph Stocking and opened a store at the corner of Main Street and Swan Street in downtown Buffalo. To assist trading with the Native Americans living in the area, Dart learned to speak the Iroquois dialects of the local tribes. He learned to converse with members of the Canadian Six Nations of

915-522: Is emptied from bins, tanks, and silos, it is conveyed, blended, and weighted into trucks, railroad cars , or barges for shipment. In Australian English , the term "grain elevator" is reserved for elevator towers, while a receival and storage building or complex is distinguished by the formal term "receival point" or as a "wheat bin" or "silo". Large-scale grain receival, storage, and logistics operations are known in Australia as bulk handling. In Canada,

976-552: Is milled or ground to remove stones, which could strike sparks from the millstones, and the use of magnets to remove metallic debris able to strike sparks. The earliest recorded flour explosion took place in an Italian mill in 1785, but many have occurred since. These two references give numbers of recorded flour and dust explosions in the United States in 1994: and 1997 In the ten-year period up to and including 1997, there were 129 explosions. Canadian Prairie grain elevators were

1037-402: Is the need to provide separate storage for ordinary and genetically modified grain to reduce the risk of accidental mixing of the two. In the past, grain elevators sometimes experienced silo explosions . Fine powder from the millions of grains passing through the facility would accumulate and mix with the oxygen in the air. A spark could spread from one floating particle to the other, creating

1098-610: The Atlantic Ocean ). All through the 1830s, Buffalo benefited tremendously from its position. In particular, it was the recipient of most of the increasing quantities of grain (mostly wheat) that was being grown on farms in Ohio and Indiana , and shipped on Lake Erie for trans-shipment to the Erie Canal. If Buffalo had not been there, or when things got backed up there, that grain would have been loaded onto boats at Cincinnati and shipped down

1159-733: The Civil War , with the coming of the railroads . The world's second and third grain elevators were built in Toledo, Ohio, and Brooklyn , New York, in 1847. These fledgling American cities were connected through an emerging international grain trade of unprecedented proportions. Grain shipments from farms in Ohio were loaded onto ships by elevators at Toledo; these ships were unloaded by elevators at Buffalo that shipped their grain to canal boats (and, later, rail cars), which were unloaded by elevators in Brooklyn, where

1220-469: The Erie Canal was fully completed in 1825 at 353 miles (568 km) long. Dart, who was considered to be "a methodical and industrious man", turned his attention to the grain trading industry, identifying Buffalo's favourable position as a grain trading port on the canal. Since the 1830s, he observed how the trading of grain had increased and considered that the volume of grain moving through Buffalo towards

1281-539: The Mississippi River to New Orleans . By 1842, Buffalo's port facilities clearly had become antiquated. They still relied upon techniques that had been in use since the European Middle Ages ; work teams of stevedores use block and tackles and their own backs to unload or load each sack of grain that had been stored ashore or in the boat's hull. Several days, sometimes even a week, were needed to serve

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1342-607: The Nebraska Northwestern Railroad filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board to purchase 100% of Nebkota's stock and assume control of the railroad from owner West Plains, LLC. The petition noted Nebkota had no current customers, no current employees, and its trackage rights to Crawford, Nebraska were inactive. Planned replacement of ties before winter, development of business and rail opportunities as part of an effort to restore service, and

1403-508: The Grand River (Iroquois Confederacy), consisting of the Mohawk , Cayuga , Onondaga , Oneida , Seneca and Tuscarora tribes. A biographical note on him is that Native Americans visiting Buffalo were known to entrust their valuables into his care for safekeeping. Someone who did visit his store was Red Jacket , who traded his furs and used the store's iron safe to hold his wampum belt , as it

1464-475: The United States had 0.88 cubic kilometres (25 billion US bushels) of storage capacity, a growth of 25% over the previous decade. The city of Buffalo is not only the birthplace of the modern grain elevator, but also has the world's largest number of extant examples. A number of the city's historic elevators are clustered along "Elevator Alley", a narrow stretch of the Buffalo River immediately adjacent to

1525-423: The United States' largest capacity for the storage of grain in over 30 concrete grain elevators located along the inner and outer harbors. While several are still in productive use, many of those that remain are presently idle. In a nascent trend, some of the city's inactive capacity has recently come back online, with an ethanol plant started in 2007 using one of the previously mothballed elevators to store corn. In

1586-400: The United States. In farming communities, each town had one or more small grain elevators that served the local growers. The classic grain elevator was constructed with wooden cribbing and had nine or more larger square or rectangular bins arranged in 3 × 3 or 3 × 4 or 4 × 4 or more patterns. Wooden-cribbed elevators usually had a driveway with truck scale and office on one side, a rail line on

1647-604: The amount of grain handled by the Western Elevating Company exceeded 85 million bushels. In 1863, Dart's grain elevator burned down and was replaced by what became known as "The Bennett Elevator", built on the same site. The conception of the grain elevator in Buffalo made it what was believed to be the largest grain trading port in the world, a feat it achieved prior to the American Civil War . The grain elevator Dart introduced to Buffalo helped it progress from

1708-471: The bank of the Buffalo River where it meets the Evans Ship Canal and constructed with wood, in contrast to contemporary concrete elevators. The principles used by Dart were not dissimilar to those used by Delaware 's flour mills , utilizing conveyor belts powered by a steam engine, which Dart described as being "a simple apparatus". Dart attributed credit to inventor Oliver Evans , who conceived

1769-867: The business was known as Dart & Bro. He helped establish the Buffalo Water Works and was a founding member of the Buffalo Seminary , as well as a member of the Buffalo Historical Society . A reader of The Buffalo Commercial wrote in 1879 that Dart was a director of a bank in Conneaut, Ohio , of whom his brother, a judge, was the president. Dart married Dotha Dennison (b. July 31, 1809) of Norfolk, Connecticut , in 1830 and had seven children, however several died while still young. Other sources suggest they had only six children, with three dying in youth. He took considerable interest in local political affairs, although never held any political office. Dart

1830-687: The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo enjoyed a unique position in American geography. It stood at the intersection of two great all-water routes; one extended from New York Harbor , up the Hudson River to Albany , and beyond it, the Port of Buffalo; the other comprised the Great Lakes , which could theoretically take boaters in any direction they wished to go (north to Canada , west to Michigan or Wisconsin , south to Toledo and Cleveland , or east to

1891-544: The early 20th century, Buffalo's grain elevators inspired modernist architects such as Le Corbusier , who exclaimed, "The first fruits of the new age!" when he first saw them. Buffalo's grain elevators have been documented for the Historic American Engineering Record and added to the National Register of Historic Places . Currently, Enid, Oklahoma , holds the title of most grain storage capacity in

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1952-402: The east could reach unimaginable levels. He believed that the increase in trade required facilities capable of meeting the demand. Buffalo was well positioned, with its location on the Great Lakes as the furthest east affording it a geographical advantage. In 1841, he came up with the idea of using machinery to transfer grain from ships and in the following year, a steam-powered grain elevator

2013-792: The grain elevator at Ellerslie, Alberta , remained marked with its old community name until it was demolished, which took place more than 20 years after the village had been annexed by Edmonton . One of the major historical trends in the grain trade has been the closure of many smaller elevators and the consolidation of the grain trade to fewer places and among fewer companies. For example, in 1961, 1,642 "country elevators" (the smallest type) were in Alberta, holding 3,452,240 tonnes (3,805,440 short tons) of grain. By 2010, only 79 "primary elevators" (as they are now known) remained, holding 1,613,960 tonnes (1,779,090 short tons). Despite this consolidation, overall storage capacity has increased in many places. In 2017,

2074-891: The grain was either distributed to East Coast flour mills or loaded for further shipment to England , the Netherlands , or Germany . This eastern flow of grain, though, was matched by an equally important flow of people and capital in the opposite direction, that is, from east to west. Because of the money to be made in grain production, and of course, because of the existence of an all-water route to get there, increasing numbers of immigrants in Brooklyn came to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to become farmers. More farmers meant more prairies turned into farmlands, which in turn meant increased grain production, which of course meant that more grain elevators would have to be built in places such as Toledo, Buffalo, and Brooklyn (and Cleveland, Chicago , and Duluth ). Through this loop of productivity set in motion by

2135-505: The harbor. The alley runs under Ohio Street and along Childs Street in the city's First Ward neighborhood. In Canada, the term "elevator row" refers to a row of four or more wood-crib prairie grain elevators. In the early pioneer days of Western Canada 's prairie towns, when a good farming spot was settled, many people wanted to make money by building their own grain elevators. This brought in droves of private grain companies. Towns boasted dozens of elevator companies, which all stood in

2196-541: The invention of the grain elevator, the United States became a major international producer of wheat, corn, and oats. In the early 20th century, concern arose about monopolistic practices in the grain elevator industry, leading to testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1906. This led to several grain elevators being burned down in Nebraska, allegedly in protest. Today, grain elevators are

2257-592: The marine leg, which scooped loose grain out of the hulls of ships and elevated it to the top of a marine tower. Early grain elevators and bins were often built of framed or cribbed wood, and were prone to fire. In 1899 Frank H. Peavey "The Elevator King' along with Charles F. Haglin , invented the modern grain elevator. The first Peavey-Haglin Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator still stands today in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The Peavey invented elevator

2318-584: The mid-1990s, with the cost of grain so low, many private elevator companies once again had to merge, this time causing thousands of "prairie sentinels" to be torn down. Because so many grain elevators have been torn down, Canada has only two surviving elevator rows; one located in Inglis, Manitoba , and the other in Warner, Alberta . The Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site has been protected as

2379-417: The name of the community painted on two sides of the elevator in large block letters, with the name of the elevator operator emblazoned on the other two sides. This made identification of the community easier for rail operators (and incidentally, for lost drivers and pilots). The old community name often remained on an elevator long after the town had either disappeared or been amalgamated into another community;

2440-603: The original idea of an elevator fifty years before. Dart faced numerous challenges during construction, with some predictions it would not succeed. Among those believing his elevator would not be viable was Mahlon Kingman, a forwarding merchant, who took pity at Dart's efforts while expressing his opinion that there was no cheaper alternative to manual labour, although later admitted that he "did not know it all". Dart's elevator opened in June 1843 and in its first year of operation, 229,260 bushels of grain were unloaded. In contrast, by 1888,

2501-569: The other side, and additional grain-storage annex bins on either side. In more recent times with improved transportation, centralized and much larger elevators serve many farms. Some of them are quite large. Two elevators in Kansas (one in Hutchinson and one in Wichita ) are half a mile long. The loss of the grain elevators from small towns is often considered a great change in their identity, and efforts to preserve them as heritage structures are made. At

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2562-436: The remaining 4 miles (6.4 km) of track east of Chadron capable of loading a 126-car unit train in 10 hours. After local opposition and the purchase of the track between Dakota Junction and Chadron by Nebraska Northwestern Railroad , the large loading facility was instead built near Alliance, Nebraska and a much smaller $ 800,000 grain loading auger was built northwest of Chadron. On August 26, 2013 John Nielsen, owner of

2623-406: The remaining four were not hurt. Almost any finely divided organic substance becomes an explosive material when dispersed as an air suspension; hence, a very fine flour is dangerously explosive in air suspension. This poses a significant risk when milling grain to produce flour, so mills go to great lengths to remove sources of sparks. These measures include carefully sifting the grain before it

2684-439: The same time, many larger grain farms have their own grain-handling facilities for storage and loading onto trucks. Elevator operators buy grain from farmers, either for cash or at a contracted price, and then sell futures contracts for the same quantity of grain, usually each day. They profit through the narrowing "basis", that is, the difference between the local cash price, and the futures price, that occurs at certain times of

2745-534: The strong support of West Plains, LLC were cited as reasons to expedite the petition. On November 20, 2013 the Surface Transportation Board authorized John Nielsen to gain control of the Nebkota as of December 15, 2013. On April 11, 2017 the Surface Transportation Board approved a corporate merger effective in May 2017 between Nebkota Railway and Nebraska Northwestern Railroad with Nebraska Northwestern being

2806-730: The subjects of the National Film Board of Canada documentaries Grain Elevator and Death of a Skyline . During the sixth season of the History Channel series Ax Men , one of the featured crews takes on the job of dismantling the Globe Elevator in Wisconsin. This structure was the largest grain-storage facility in the world when it was built in the 1880s. Joseph Dart Joseph Dart (April 30, 1799 – September 28, 1879)

2867-462: The surviving corporate entity. This United States railway company-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about transportation in Nebraska is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade , the term "grain elevator" also describes

2928-579: The term "grain elevator" is used to refer to a place where farmers sell grain into the global grain distribution system, and/or a place where the grain is moved into rail cars or ocean-going ships for transport. Specifically, several types of grain elevators are defined under Canadian law, in the Canadian Grain Act , section 2. Both necessity and the prospect of making money gave birth to the steam-powered grain elevator in Buffalo, New York , in 1843. Due to

2989-417: The term describes only the lifting mechanism. Before the advent of the grain elevator, grain was usually handled in bags rather than in bulk (large quantities of loose grain). The Dart elevator was a major innovation—it was invented by Joseph Dart , a merchant, and Robert Dunbar , an engineer, in 1842, in Buffalo, New York . Using the steam-powered flour mills of Oliver Evans as their model, they invented

3050-484: The trade of grain through the city's harbour. It seemed to me, as I reflected on the amazing extent of the grain producing regions of the Prairie West, and the favorable position of Buffalo for receiving their products, that the eastward movements of grain through this port would soon exceed anything the boldest imagination had conceived. Reflection of Joseph Dart. Around four years after Dart arrived in Buffalo,

3111-466: The various Iroquoian languages of the local tribes. Dart remained in the trade until just before the panic of 1837 , which resulted in a recession and the store collapsing. He shortly after turned his attention towards grain trading. Dart conceived of a machine-powered grain elevator in 1842, the first in America and known as Dart's Elevator. Other grain elevators were later built that helped make Buffalo

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3172-426: The world's first steam-powered "grain storage and transfer warehouse" was executed by an engineer named Robert Dunbar. Thanks to the historic Dart's Elevator (operational on 1 June 1843), which worked almost seven times faster than its nonmechanized predecessors, Buffalo was able to keep pace with—and thus further stimulate—the rapid growth of American agricultural production in the 1840s and 1850s, but especially after

3233-567: The year. Before economical truck transportation was available, grain elevator operators sometimes used their purchasing power to control prices. This was especially easy, since farmers often had only one elevator within a reasonable distance of their farms. This led some governments to take over the administration of grain elevators. An example of this is the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool . For the same reason, many elevators were purchased by cooperatives . A recent problem with grain elevators

3294-430: Was an American businessman and entrepreneur associated with the grain industry. He was well educated and at the age of 17 began an apprenticeship in a hat factory before managing one in 1819. Two years later in 1821, he moved to Buffalo, New York , and in the following year, opened a store trading hats, leather and fur. Among his customers were Native Americans, including Red Jacket . To facilitate communication, he learned

3355-493: Was born April 30, 1799, in the town of East Hampton, Connecticut , in the historic district of Middle Haddam . His parents were Joseph and Sarah Dart and he was their third son. Dart received a good education and at the age of 17, moved to Woodbury, Connecticut , where he took work in a hat factory as an apprentice. He moved in 1819 to manage a different hat business in Utica, New York , until 1821. Dart moved to Buffalo in 1821, then

3416-406: Was built. Alongside Scottish mechanical engineer Robert Dunbar , Dart oversaw construction of a steam-powered grain elevator, the first in America, dedicating around 10 years of his life to the business. Dunbar had moved to Buffalo in 1834 following a period of mechanical engineering study in Canada. Up to this time, grains were in barrels or sacks and moved by hand. The elevator was built on

3477-512: Was completed in 1898. It had a capacity of 40,000 tons and its automatic conveying and spouting system could distribute grain into 226 bins. Given a large enough suspension of combustible flour or grain dust in the air, a significant explosion can occur. The 1878 explosion of the Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota , killed 18, leveled two nearby mills, damaged many others, and caused

3538-463: Was considered state of the art by The Buffalo Commercial newspaper at the end of the nineteenth century, which it regarded "second in importance [to commerce ] only to the steamboat and the locomotive". In 1852, Dart became a lumber dealer with his brother Erastus and brother-in-law William H. Ovington. Dart's son Joseph joined his father in the lumber industry after graduating from Yale University in 1874. Ovington withdrew in 1861, after which

3599-419: Was described as being a kind, Christian gentleman with integrity and was well respected by those who associated with him. Dart bought a grand house on the north-east corner of Niagara Street and Georgia Street in 1858 where he lived until his death. The house was built around 1854 and described as a "large and imposing dwelling" with an exterior composed of plain squares of stone. Dart's mansion later became

3660-541: Was the first cylindrical concrete grain elevator in the world and is now widely used across Canada and the US. Grain elevator bins, tanks, and silos are now usually made of steel or reinforced concrete. Bucket elevators are used to lift grain to a distributor or consignor, from which it falls through spouts and/or conveyors and into one or more bins, silos, or tanks in a facility. When desired, silos, bins, and tanks are emptied by gravity flow, sweep augers , and conveyors. As grain

3721-474: Was the strongest safe in the village. Dart remained in the hat and fur trading business until 1836, the year following the death of Stocking in 1835, although other sources indicate he stayed in the industry until 1837. He sold the business to Stocking's son, Thomas R. Stocking. During the panic of 1837 which caused a deep recession and high rates of unemployment, Dart's former store was affected and ultimately closed. By this time, Dart had turned his focus to

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