Fancy Corn Crib

Ultradog MN · May 1, 2016

We went down to Vermillion SD again this weekend.
Traveled cross country through Mankato, Windom and Worthington MN to catch I-90 west.
There is a little town named Butternut, MN about halfway down.
I have seen this interesting building on our way through in the past and wondered about it.
So this time we stopped and asked the owner if we could look at it and snap a few photos.
He was nice and said go ahead.
The corn crib is made of concrete block and has I think a galvanized roof on it. The roof has been painted so it could be aluminum. Not sure.
It was built by Morton elevators as per the sign inside.
I would guestimate the building is about 16' high to the bottom of the roof and the two half circles are about 20' in diameter with an unloading area in the middle.
It seemed like a rather elaborate amount of machinery, fancy roof and concrete silo block for not a whole lot of corn storage.
But it was a beautiful building and very interesting to have a chance to see up close.

There was a lot of machinery inside including a bucket elevator to haul the corn up.

And a winch system - I assume for changing which side was being filled.

And lastly a door to get into the corn storage area on each side.

Just some pictures with my phone but they show something about the building.

I

Greg K · May 1, 2016

Pretty neat. I've seen that building, and I've seen standing concrete cribs singly, but I've never been inside of one or saw how they operate. You shouldn't have had to worry about the sun in your eyes this weekend with all the rain. Is Butternut the one with the Mennonite Heritage Museum or is that Mountain Lake?

MN valley man · May 1, 2016

Mountain Lake is the site of the Mennonite Museum.

Greg K · May 1, 2016

Ok. Thanks. I've always meant to stop but it seems I'm always in a hurry or way outside of normal open hours. Has anyone been there? Is it worth the stop? I imagine it would be.

LAA · May 1, 2016

The ingenuity that went into many old buildings and equipment designs is really interesting to me. My Dad told me years ago that a lot of technological marvels were developed during WWII, not just for military purposes, many labor saving advances were made because it was old men, kids and Women running the farms while all the young bulls were off in the war.

super99 · May 1, 2016

Neat crib!! There is one just north of Conesville, Ia on the Highway but I don't remember it having the building on top of the roof. The winch is probably a wagon hoist to unload the wagons of corn. Some of them had overhead bins also for small grain storage. Chris

jacksun65 · May 1, 2016

Saw one like it in Ohio one time they were tearing it down shame

sd pete · May 1, 2016

I have seen one other in my travels. I have never been inside of one. Thanks for posting pics.

casecollectorsc · May 1, 2016

There is an unloading elevator similar to that one at Prairie Village, Madison SD. It is in a wood grainery that you drive thru to unload with the elevator into individual bins. They put on a great show every 3rd week of August each year. Three day event with set-up on Thursday.

farmerwithmutt · May 1, 2016

Nice picture thanks for posting. 3 and 4 pictures looks like the drag line behind the belt doesn't look like it had much use

SweetFeet · May 1, 2016

Ultradog,

That is really unique. Thanks for posting the photos.

Sometimes seems it would be great fun to become a vagabond and travel the country photographing stuff like that.

ADB-Ia · May 1, 2016

Almost the exact unload mechanism as in a crib we had to tear down on our farm a couple years ago. The winch mechanism is a wagon lift to dump wagons or trucks that didn't have a hoist. A cradle for the front wheels was suspended by cable and pulleys from the rafters above. It was powered by the same drive as the bucket elevator via a chain on the shaft with the big pulley. Dad would occasionally allow us to "ride" the old Chevy truck up when he dumped when we were kids. By the way, the large wooden pulley and shaft from ours became a nice glass topped table in the hands of a local craftsman.

BarryfromIA · May 1, 2016

The Page Silo Co built some of those around, but they are taller and bigger around. Some have overhead bins and still see some use.

ADB-Ia · May 1, 2016

That drag folds down behind the wagon that was pulled through to dump the wagon into. It feeds the upright leg.

paul · May 1, 2016

See a few of those around, but you were in my neighborhood.

Single cribs, just one round, of that design are all over. Altho getting dozed out of the way pretty regularly.

Paul

flying belgian · May 1, 2016

Grandmother and uncle built one on their place. Morton is the name of the elevator only. The crib was manufactured by the Worthley"spelling" Co. We always called it the worthless crib as it was very hard for corn to dry down in it. Very little air could flow through it and also it was a bit-- to unload. Lots of shoveling.

JMS/.MN · May 1, 2016

It was either Norling or Hanson Silo, both in the Willmar area (Svea and Lake Lillian), that built round ventilated silo stave cribs similar to that.

gene bender · May 2, 2016

Those were not uncommon used to see lots of them but few remain now as they just arent usefull. The most popular elevators were Meyer made in Morton,Il. The top was for the elevator as it went over the crib to dump then back down winch was to raise wagon to let grain out.

wisbaker · May 2, 2016

The Mennonite Heritage Museum is in Mountain Lake. Mountain Lake is/was a big Mennonite community. My Mother in law was raised there, her Dad was the John Deere Dealer.

Mike Fitz · May 2, 2016

The concrete cribs are really neat buildings, I bet a person felt like the king of the world the day they were done. Like you said a lot of building for a little storage, I worked for a neighbor with one, the air flow was not great so corn had to be fairly dry going in, with the elevator filling the corn from the center of the crib, it oriented the ears the wrong way when unloading, meant much hacking ,raking, and shoveling when unloading, raccoons liked to live in the elevator, it's a special thrill when the elevator stops because a raccoon is stuck in it some where, and you have to climb up the dark little shaft along the elevator to clear him out.Mike

wd9garymn · May 2, 2016

Ultradog, I am sure you meant Butterfield Mn. My uncle always went to their tractor show.

Ultradog MN · May 2, 2016

Gary,
No.
Butternut, MN.
Little burg a few miles west of Lake Crystal.
Population 300 or so.
There's a sign on MN hwy 60 says Butternut 3 mi. The corn crib is about 3/8 mi north of that sign, about 3/400 yards west of the highway.
Butternut

wd9garymn · May 2, 2016

Yup, my bad. Found it on google maps--called butternut valley township. Just 6 or 7 houses and a Lutheran church out in the middle of farm country.

dick1234 · May 2, 2016

Nice pics. I think the winch is to raise the wagons.

dschaefer55 · May 3, 2016

Thanks for pictures & story

fixerupper · May 3, 2016

Like Flying Belgian said cement block cribs do not allow the corn to dry down well. First thing I think of when I see a cement crib is MOLD. My neighbor got sick from the mold dust 30 years ago while shelling out a cement crib and now he gets sick from mold very easy. We had a crib with a Morton bucket elevator. The drag was in a pit in the floor but the ceiling was too low for us to raise our bigger wagons far enough. Originally there was 'dump blocks' or ramps in the floor spaced apart the right distance for high wooden wheel wagons. With the wagon parked on the ramps a wheel was turned that tipped the back of the ramps down into depressions in the floor while the front of the ramps raised above the floor. The bucket elevator was powered by a shaft that went out the end of the crib. A tractor and speed jack sat outside the crib to turn the shaft. That elevator always pulled hard for some reason. We had to stake down the speed jack so it wouldn't flip over.

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