NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

November 5, 1998

Plains Folk: Book Touts Prairie Skyscrapers

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

©1998 Plains Folk

The country grain elevator holds especial appeal both to travelers of the level landscape of the plains and to native residents, for whom the elevators are repositories not only of grain but also of stories. I remember years ago attending a talk by a friend of mine, Arn Henderson, an architect from the University of Oklahoma. Suddenly I recognized the scenes in his slides—images of the Silica elevator in Barton County, Kan., in the process of demolition. Arn was delighted with the slides because they allowed him to illustrate the wood-cribbing construction method of grain elevators.

On the other hand, I had hauled grain to Silica, and so the same images evoked in me the story of how the scale attendants there learned to add onto the weigh ticket, next to the "Driver on/Driver off" check box, a little note indicating "Dog on" or "Dog off." A 60-pound dog equals a bushel of wheat!

Travelers and natives alike will welcome a new book by Russell Stubbles of South Dakota State University titled "Skyscrapers of the Prairie: South Dakota's Historic Wooden Grain Elevators." (It's available, paperback, for $21.89 from Skyscrapers at 729 6th Ave., Brookings, SD 57006.) The book is a fascinating collection of photos, mostly historic and a few modern, of country elevators across South Dakota.

"I wish I owned a wooden grain elevator," confesses Stubbles. "Preferably an unpainted, graying, two-story, weather-beaten, and windowless relic ten miles from nowhere." The historic photos in his book, however, show that the elevators in their heyday were not relics, but the central features of their communities. Elevator builders and owners posed proudly in front of their drive sheds. Scores of farmers, teams, and wagons lined up at the same entries during harvest and hauling seasons. Takers of panoramic views of new towns inevitably made the elevator central to their photographs—unless, of course, they climbed the elevator in order to shoot down at the town.

Only one photo illustrates elevator construction. It shows men on scaffolds applying lap siding to the exterior. As Stubbles notes, elevators had certain standard elements: square cribbed grain bins, a drive shed, a scale and scale room, an office-engine shed, and a fuel shed. The wood cribbing of the granaries is the most distinctive technical feature. A bin was constructed of 2-inch lumber (2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s) laid flat, each layer nailed down into the one below, the corners dovetailed.

Unfortunately, there are more photos of elevator destruction. Dust explosions and tornadoes took some, but as Stubbles notes, "The biggest nemesis is fire, accidental or purposeful."

During World War I home guards were called out to protect grain elevators from suspected saboteurs. Late in the same century elevator owners have soaked their properties with oil, called out the fire department, and burned them down deliberately. Elevator fires of the early 20th century were historic moments commonly captured by photographers with multiple images. "Skyscrapers of the Prairie," for instance, includes eight sequential views of the Sleepy Eye Milling Co. fire in Lebanon, S.D., in 1910.

In mid-century it was fairly common to move elevators down the highway from one location to another. Stubbles includes two photos of the attempt to move an elevator from Parade to Eagle Butte in 1953—an attempt foiled by high winds that blew the building off the road and broke it to pieces.

Stubbles recounts how when he visited towns to research his book, people reached into caches of old photographs and freely shared them, along with their memories. Plains folk know that grain elevators are important and distinctive. Surely there is among us sufficient respect and resolve to preserve some of them for posterity.

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Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136