The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher
You can't travel north on downtown Broadway Street without noticing something big has been added across the railroad tracks at the grain elevator.
Actually, "big" just doesn't quite describe it. "Gigantic" would be a more adequate description.
According to Dan Bowman, Manager at Stronghurst Grain & Mdse. increase for grain storage has been a necessity to eliminate the huge stockpiling on the ground, the elevator has had to resort to the last several years.
With farming operations becoming bigger and more efficient, it was necessary to move forward to meet farmers needs in the area.
The last 15-20 years, they were able to receive 4,000 to 6,000 bushels per hour, but today with their enlarged and improved operation, they are taking in 10,000 to 20,000 bushels per hour.
"It all boils down to new equipment, improvements in some of our old (equipment), and adding more "dump pits". "The improvements have been a joint effort," Bowman said.
Stronghurst Grain & Mdse. is a corporation with 200 stockholders from Henderson County farmers and area land owners. Bowman has been a manager for 5 1/2 years. Working with a flexible and aggressive board, the improvements have been able to be accomplished.
"We are fortunate to have good crops in this area and with the low prices, farmers have been choosing to store more. The new bins are the results of us taking care of that large need."
"In a normal year," Bowman said, "70% to 75% of the crop is stored. With prices higher than they have been, nationally wide the supply is down. Corn today is $2.13 for fall delivery, and beans are $5.47. Last year corn was $1.90 and beans $4.20 on the same date.
Roughly, Stronghurst Grain has added a million bushels of storage and own three semi's to move the grain.
"We put up just over a million bushels of storage in 5 1/2 years," Bowman said. "We now have a 2 million bushel facility operated by nine full-time employees plus our seasonal help."
In 2000, the elevator added a 234,000 bushel storage bin and this year they added one three times its size that holds 684,000 bin.
The huge grain bin caught the eye of almost everyone. The concrete work took about a month and a half for a local crew to complete, and took another three weeks to erect the bin by a dozen specialists from South Dakota. Six of this Dakota crew were from South Africa and were very good workers.
The grain bins came through Chadco Inc. of Bushnell who sell and work on grain bins and equipment. They were manufactured at Brock Manufacturing in Kansas City, MO.
Roy Day was contracted locally by Stronghurst Grain to pour the 900 yards of concrete. The foundation was 105' in diameter to hold the 115 feet high facility.
Bowman said the elevator leg and the Stronghurst Water water tower were higher.
(The water tower's water level is at 120 feet, and the tower itself at approximately 135" according to Bob Carmean of the Village Water Plant.)
To get ready for the new bin, the removal of concrete, two buildings, and four small bins were completed earlier. Chadco dismantled the bins piece by piece.
Soil borings also had to be done for the Structural Engineer to see what kind of footing and stem wall dimensions would be detected. Things had to be considered such as the vibration of the trains coming through on the nearby railroad tracks. The cement came from Ideal Ready Mix - located nearby.
Bowman believed that the engineer designed footings to be 26 inches in depth and 13 foot wide according to SKS Engineers out of Decatur.
The local zoning board approved the structure and Stronghurst Grain also acquired an EPA construction permit.
The grain bin comes with a five year warranty according to Chadco, with the nearest one this large at Ursa Farmers Coop near Quincy. It was put up by the same people with the same North Dakota crew contracted through Chadco. Chadco also put up the Stronghurst bin two years ago. "They are very efficient," Bowman said.
After the fifty days or so of concrete work, 90% of the grain bin arrived in Stronghurst in one day. There were eight semi-loads of roof sheeting, sidewall sheeting, ladders, fans along with all the nuts and bolts required to assemble the huge structure.
The last to be installed was the electrical and conveyor which fills and unloads the bin, and the fans to keep things cool. Chadco also had their own crew for the electrical work.
"I hope the town people bear with me in this," Bowman said. "Within the sixty days of harvest, we are not shipping as much out and are not having as much traffic.
We are eliminating lines off the road and on property and feel that we will also benefit the people.
We appreciate the people letting us do whatever we have needed to do over Stronghurst Grain's 80-year existence to serve our farmers."
Bowman added, "It's difficult to be perfect and know with corn and beans comes dust."
For the future, he said, there is nothing on the drawing board right now. "The producers dictate what we do, and this was pay-off day."
The 684,000 bushel bin cost about $1 a bushel to construct, he said, and this Bowman said it is already full.
At Lomax, Stronghurst Grain's other facility, there is 300,000 bu. of storage, but it is more labor intensive in loading and unloading. Together at Stronghurst and Lomax, Stronghurst Grain & Mdse. is now able to store over two million bushels of grain for our farmers.
Although Bowman says their storage facility is a drop in the bucket compared to the huge Twomey Co. who houses millions of bushels in five main locations, Stronghurst Grain is continually growing and improving to meet the needs of the farmers in southern Henderson County.
With more storage and semi's gaining easier access, customer base has increased with their improved facility.