FRUIT GROWERS PLAN COLD STORAGE 



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IF CURRENT plans materialize, the 

 Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange at 

 Carbondale will have a modern cold 

 storage building of 60,000 bushel ca- 

 pacity in which patrons can store apples 

 this season. 



Proposal to construct such a plant 

 adjacent to the present Fruit Exchange 

 building was made at the annual meeting 

 of the cooperative April 17 at Carbon- 

 dale by the board of directors. It re- 

 ceived the hearty approval of the 200 

 growers present as it was pointed out 

 that adequate storage facilities were not 

 available in that area of the state. 



Work is being started immediately on 

 the preliminaries to construction. Reali- 

 zation of the project, as A. O. Eckert, 

 president of the Exchange pointed out, 

 depends on the support and participation 

 of growers in financing the building. 

 "That is the cooperative way," Eckert 

 declared. "Without actual grower par- 

 ticipation, the building will not be con- 

 structed." 



Since non-critical materials are ex- 

 pected to be used in the construction, it 

 is believed that priorities can be secured 

 for the building. 



Cost of the building was estimated at 

 $80,000 and 'the board expressed the 

 opinion that it could be made to pay 

 for itself in 10 to 12 years. The con- 

 crete and brick structure is being de- 

 signed so that new units can be added 

 later. After initial costs and reserves 

 are taken care of, provisions would be 

 made for patronage refunds. 



Construction of a cold storage plant 

 would mean an expansion of services to 

 members and would be in line with 

 anticipated future developments in the 

 marketing of fruits and vegetables. 



This is an architect's sketch of the pro- 

 posed cold storage building which the 



Of immediate value to apple growers, 

 the storage facilities would also offer 

 future possibilities in the pre-cooling of 

 peaches and might well be an initial 

 step in the sharp freezing of fruits in 

 Southern Illinois. 



Proposed plans for the new structure 

 call for completely modern equipment. 

 Modern conveyor belts would take the 

 baskets of apples from trucks or rail- 

 road cars and transport them to storage 

 rooms on the fi'st and second floors of 

 the 46 by 1 60-foot building. This 

 would be labor-saving, in that the 

 grower or trucker would not need to 

 bring extra help to unload, and Ex- 

 change employees inside the building 

 could handle the actual stacking of 





Illinois Fruit Exchange is considering lor 

 apple storage at Carbondale. 



baskets. Ceilings would be of such a 

 height that overstacking could not occur. 

 Temperature controls would insure the 

 correct coolness of the storage room at 

 all times so that the apples would have 

 the best preservation. 



Space is provided in the tentative 

 plans for offices and for a cooling room. 

 Loading platforms for trucks are pro- 

 vided at the front of the building and for 

 railroad cars at the rear. The building 

 would face the hard road just west and 

 south of the present building. 



Manager L. L. Colvis and President 

 Eckert explained that the Fruit Exchange 

 hoard had made a considerable study of 

 the proposed projea and had visited 

 some of the best modern storage plants 



Some 200 attended the annual meeting oi 

 the Exchange. In picture No. 1 ore C. L. 

 Cope, charter member oi the Exchange, 

 and Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Biggs, Union coun- 



ty. In picture No. 2 are Mrs. A. O. Eckert 

 Exchange President Eckert, Mrs. Talmage 

 Deirees, and Vice-President Deirees. In 

 picture No. 3 are Les Broom, Pulaski- 



Alexander form odTiser; Ted Davis, and 

 P. E. lohnston. U. oi L labor staiL and 

 Arthur Foreman, Pike county grower. 



MAY. 1944 





