By Ronald Ahrens
It was urgent business indeed as Tillotson Construction Co. undertook a $47,500 elevator for Snittjer Grain Co. in Wellsburg, Iowa. The Frerichs and Snittjer wood elevator burned in 1944–just the latest fire at that site. In the wartime period, it wasn’t automatic or quick to build a replacement. The interval without sufficient grain storage in the Grundy County village had farmers scrambling.
Nor had it been automatic that a partnership would endure. Harm Frerichs, the former bank cashier who teamed with Sherwood Snittjer, died in 1940. Frerichs was 52 years old at his death, which was attributed to double-pneumonia. “He had been afflicted with diabetes for a number of years,” the Waterloo Daily Courier reported. He also owned Grundy County Oil Co.
His funeral rite at the local Reformed church brought together “perhaps the largest number ever to assemble in Wellsburg,” according to an obituary, which didn’t mention the elevator.
Without further details of the new entity, we can say the partnership ended, Snittjer proceeded, and Tillotson started building on his behalf in 1946. The Daily Courier reported on July 14:
“Two crews will be employed until the work is completed. There will be four silos 80 feet high, with a capacity of 50,000 bushels. A driveway and dump pit will be constructed between the silos. The elevator is being constructed of steel and cement.”
The Des Moines Register followed up the next week, saying the silos would be 84 feet high.
Page 1 of the Tillotson construction record cites a revised 1939 plan from Goltry, Okla. as the basis for this new elevator. Goltry, a 60,000-bushel house, was Tillotson’s first concrete elevator. Wellsburg capacity is listed as 50,650 bushels. A note about the tanks gives their diameter as 12 feet, same as Goltry, but evidently they weren’t as high. The job consumed 662 cubic yards of reinforced concrete, another seven yards for the hopper, and 30 1/3 tons of steel. (Goltry used 758 cubic yards and 32 1/2 tons.)
This early page of records lists total costs, less commission, at $47,500. Expenditure for labor was $21,473. A note in the costs section says “costs incl. whse and office partly built.”
For an example of wartime inflation, look at Goltry’s total cost: $21,522.97. Call it $50 greater than Wellsburg’s outlay just for labor.
Other Wellsburg costs (transcribed literally): Cement @ job $6,842; Sand @ job (3,000# c.y.) $1,944; Rock @ job (unclear); Re-steel @ job (J-rods, wires & nipples) $2,246; Lumber $1,991; Machinery $5,500; Structural steel $776; Electrical mat’l $597; Doors & Windows $1,148; Painting & water proofing $30; Hardware (Bolts, nails, etc.) $515; Equip. expense (Depreciation, rentals etc) $2,526; Freight (Not included above F.O.B job) $192; Sub-contracts $94; W.H. Tax & Ins. $1,718; State taxes $430; Miscel. (Overhead, job office, plans, bond, etc) $725.
It’s instructive to look so closely at the books because, after this first series of elevators listed on page 1, costs are omitted from the records. Nor is a page 1A available with additional specifications such as height of drawform walls and dimensions and height of the cupola.
On Oct. 15,1946 the Courier declared the Wellsburg elevator to be finished and open for operation: “It stands 110 feet high, is 45 feet square and has four silos connected by bins. Peak capacity will total 60,000 bushels.”
Using the same plan yet again, Tillotson started a job the next year in Rushville, Nebr. To show how the finished result would look, they sent a photo of Wellsburg to the local newspaper. That picture is seen at the top of the post.
The Wellsburg elevator’s fate is unclear. For a change, Google Maps is of no help. (It sure was foggy in Wellsburg!) Snittjer Grain continued as an independent operation until being purchased in 2023 by Landus. World Grain reported: “Landus has 56 licensed grain storage facilities with 152.686 million bushels of storage, according to Sosland Publishing Co.’s 2023 Grain & Milling Annual, which places it 10th among grain handling companies in North America. Landus also has access to seven railroads.”
Alas, in the Tillotson archive, we find no completion photo from Wellsburg and are left regretting the dearth of images.