A Grain Warehouse Collapses Under 60,000 Bushels of Wheat
At Guy, Washington, the Pacific Coast Elevator Co.'s store gave way under the weight of the harvest—wrecking the building but leaving the elevator standing.
The warehouse of the Pacific Coast Elevator Co., at Guy, collapsed Wednesday of last week under the weight of 60,000 bushels of wheat. The warehouse, which was 50 feet wide and 150 feet long and cost $2,000, is a total wreck. The elevator was not injured. The loss on the wheat will not exceed $500. It is thought that not more than 100 bushels of wheat will be lost, but there will be a great expense for labor in removing the grain.
“The warehouse ... is a total wreck. The elevator was not injured.”
Grain storage was the fragile link between Eastern Washington's wheat fields and distant markets; a failure here meant lost bushels and expensive cleanup. The episode is a reminder that the infrastructure behind a farm economy can fail suddenly, and that the cleanup usually falls to labor.
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