Standing sentinel, grain elevators stand watch across Montana. The "Prairie Skyscrapers" are often the tallest man-made structures for miles around. The elevators were usually close to the railroad tracks. The company would buy the grain from the farmers then store it in the elevators until it was sold and most often hauled by rail.
George, a friend of ours used to work for the Montana Grain Elevator Company many years ago.
Ismay is the smallest incorporated town in Montana and still exists because of the grain elevators there (
The Ismay Grain Company)
Looking across the prairie you can see these structures standing sentinel against the horizon.
Waiting for the people, many who will never return to communities that are now long gone.
Wow - these are so cool!I love how you described them as prairie skyscrapers and how they stand sentinel. Beautiful and haunting pictures.
ReplyDeleteThese pictures look like they could be from the Middle Ages--such history, grandeur, and inspiration. Thanks for taking me into another world this morning.
ReplyDeleteWhat great pictures, but your words enriched the pictures. Your final sentence gave me sadness for the elevators waiting for one who won't return.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures that seem to stand for the people who have left. I love the way you lent an air of nostalgia for those times. In Missouri, we could go down to the elevator in town and watch the farmers bring in their grain. It was a celebration of sorts.
ReplyDeleteYour slices take me to places I didn't even know existed. I wonder what will be there in 50 years.
ReplyDeleteTerje
I love the way your pictures, and especially your words, took me away to simpler times. Stunning.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved the old grain elevators. They seem so majestic. I tried to capture that with the pictures as well as the words.
ReplyDeleteI went to school in Eastern Washington and loved to watch these sentinels rise on my horizon. It is hard to imagine a time when the area around them would have been busier - it is always so ghostly now.
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