94 THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 



maintaining even good earth roads. The farmers 

 have recently begun to take positive steps toward 

 road betterment because they now realize that 

 good roads reduce the cost of marketing. The 

 importance of good country roads in wheat dis- 

 tricts is clear when we know that it is necessary 

 for farmers to haul as far as eight to ten or even 

 twenty miles to a shipping point. 



Storage in Town Elevators. - - At the shipping 

 stations, grain-handling buildings called elevators 

 have generally been built at the side of the rail- 

 road tracks. These have several bins with a 

 combined storage capacity of from 5000 to 20,000 

 bushels. The elevator is a tall building from 45 

 to 70 feet high, bearing some resemblance to a 

 tower. It is usually painted red. In the smaller 

 places the elevators are ordinarily the most prom- 

 inent buildings in town. The farmer first hauls 

 his load upon the scales, which are either separate 

 from the main building or are connected with it. 

 The load is weighed, wagon and all, then driven 

 upon a platform in the elevator where it is un- 

 loaded by dumping. This consists of opening a 

 trap door in the platform, taking out the rear 

 end gate of the wagon and tilting the platform, 

 which swings on an axis, so that the grain slides 

 into a bin below. When the wagon is empty it is 

 again weighed, and in this manner the net amount 

 of grain is determined. Driving the wagon out of 



