red locomotive
The red Indiana locomotive is siderailed by the grain elevator north of Plainview - Hale County.
Getting The Word Out.
12 years ago
Showing posts with label Hale County. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hale County. Show all posts
March 28, 2010
5 'til 5
For generations, motorists on US 87 (now I-27) south of Hale Center were encouraged to watch the letters "CONE" on the grain elevator morph into a stylized clock with the time of 5 minutes until 5 o"clock (or 11:25 depending on your perception). It must be like a Rorschach test because many people never see it. With the elevator in disuse and the paint fading, future generations won't be able to tell the time on the elevator.
The Cone elevator was built probably in the early 1940s. The federal Commodity Credit Corporation was established in 1936 to "stabilize supplies against variation in production due to good and bad weather." What the CCC did was stabilize grain prices and produce a proliferation of grain elevators for storage across the country. Current economics dictate immediate hauling of grain and prohibitive costs for storing.
I did not realize until I googled that, just like football or windmills, there are grain elevator aficionados. There are sites galore on grain storage history and historic elevators including the now-demolished Burrus elevator in Lubbock. I learned that the Cone Elevator on County Road 225 in Hale County is actually in Underwood -- which I had never heard of (there's nothing there now but what might have been a country store). The Cone Elevator was on the BNSF tracks, had a capacity of 1,000,000 bushels and could handle 16 container cars.
My dad recalls at least three car crashes, possibly with fatalities, occurring when the gawkers were hit trying to see the clock. Can you see it?
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