THE DUMAS CO-OP ELEVATORS

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Throughout the Plains, the grain cooperative functions as a mutual savings bank into which members deposit grain rather than money to be held until they choose to sell. The Dumas Cooperative in Moore County is an example of this operation, posting daily prices for grain, at which the member may choose to sell back to the Co-op. The Co-op then locates a market and distributes the grain. Groups of tall concrete cylinders (silos) along rail lines, visible for miles, are the iconic image of the plains regions.The farmer depositing grain first stops at a scale, where the farmer’s truck is weighed full, proceeds to the drop area, deposits the grain in a dump pit, and then returns to the scales for the truck to be weighed empty. The grain in the dump pit is raised by a belt conveyor with buckets (referred to as a leg) to the top of the elevator, where it is conditioned as necessary. It may be dried if too wet, cooled if too hot, or treated for insects to maintain it in good condition for sale at a later date. Following treatment, the grain is dispersed to the various storage bins in the silos.Upon sale, the grain is conveyed by gravity to hopper scales in each elevator, which weigh the grain before it is loaded onto railroad cars or trucks. Each elevator has two unloading spouts, one for rail and one for trucks. Hard winter wheat is customarily loaded on rail cars and shipped to the Texas Gulf Market (Houston or Galveston) or the California flour mill market. Local feed grains, corn and sorghum, are dispensed by truck for local consumption.The Dumas Cooperative, founded in 1947, is governed by an elected board of directors, although nonmembers also use its facilities. The Co-op functions under a federal warehouse license and is subject to federal inspection. Its present capacity is about 9 million bushels, including that of other elevators outside of Dumas. The Co-op is also engaged in fertilizer and trucking businesses and operates a farm store.The great concrete silos with their individual bins are more expensive than the steel tanks that have tended to supplant them, but they are still considered the most desirable since the concrete walls insulate better than steel.—JAY C. HENRY

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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    grain elevators
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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "THE DUMAS CO-OP ELEVATORS", [, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/essays/TX-02-ART352.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 352-352.

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