Bulk Conversion
By the end of the 1920s, most farmers in the Palouse area had begun to switch from sacking grain to handling it loosely, or in bulk. The development of bulk handling methods evolved over a period of time and corresponded with a number of other factors.
Farmers, while conservative in nature, have always adopted new methods of farming. Mechanization, the move from horse powered equipment to gas powered equipment, was gradually taking place across America. Wagons were replaced by trucks, tractors replaced horses and plows, and harvest equipment, such as the combine, became gas driven..
This mechanization, in turn, encouraged the movement towards bulk handling. As bulk handling methods were adopted and improved, the farm truck was outfitted with solid racks designed to accept bulk grain directly from the combine. The only modification required on the combine was the addition of an auger to move the grain from the combine into the truck. The truck then took the grain directly to bulk storage bins, either on the farm or at one of the many large warehousing operations growing along the Snake River and in Pomeroy.
To meet the need for bulk storage many warehousing firms began building bulk storage facilities. The Pomeroy Grain Growers, owners of the Mayview Tramway, built a 150,000 bushel bulk elevator in Pomeroy in 1942.1 The Centennial Mills Company purchased land and began construction, in 1942, of a large bulk grain warehouse at Central Ferry.2 State wide, there was an estimated 4,500,000 bushels of new bulk storage being planned in 1942.3 In 1942, the Pomeroy Grain Growers planned to convert the Mayview warehouses to bins with bulk storage capacity of seventy five percent of the grain received and additional bins in the brake yard to house the remainder.4
Bulk handling methods, were stimulated in part by, the farmer's inability to obtain the sacking necessary for his harvest operation. With the onset of W.W.II, the jute used for making sacks, which mainly came from Calcutta, India, became harder and harder to get. During the war years, "the allied nations [announced they] will not protect purely commercial cargoes passing through Jap [sic] infested waters."5 Additionally, the U. S. Government requisitioned two-thirds of burlap supplies for camouflage equipment and sand bags.6 Although the penitentiary at Walla Walla supplied some sacking they could never supply all that was needed in the area.
The scarcity of grain sacking led many farmers to speed up their move towards bulk handling methods.7 Much of the existing grain storage in the Palouse area was designed to handle sacked grain. As more farmers converted to bulk handling, the demand for bulk storage rose. But, because of the war, officials from the War Production Board "declared it [was] questionable whether steel, motors, belts and hoisting machinery for new elevators or converted warehouses will be available."8 Farmers found themselves in the position of being unable to sack their grain, due to lake of jute, and unable to store their bulk grain, due to lack of storage facilities.
The combination of bulk handling methods and mechanization sharply reduced the labor required for the farming operation. Prior to the 1920's a crew of twelve to fifteen had been required, by the 1940's only three to five men were needed for an average harvets crew. The onset of WW II drew off this excess of labor, forcing those who had not fully mechanized to automate their operations.
An example of the effects on labor from bulk conversion can be found in the plans to convert the Mayview Tramway to handle bulk grain. The Mayview Tramway employed a brake man, a scale man, six yardmen, two switch men on the turntable, six sack pilers and the cooks. Between fifteen and twenty men worked at the tramway by the 1940s. If the plans for conversion to bulk had been completed, the labor force required would have reduced that number to between four and six men for the same operation.
1. East Wasingtonian. Pomeroy, WA: 12 March 1942.
2. ibid., 19 March 1942.
3. ibid., 23 March 1942.
4. ibid., 19 March 1942.
5. ibid.
6. ibid., 23 March 1942.
7. ibid., 6 August 1942.
8. ibid., 23 March 1942.
Introduction
Geography
• Farming
• Transportation
• Grain Chutes
• Mayview Tramway
Bulk Handling
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Oral Interviews
• Maps
• Illustrations
Acknowledgements
• Comments
