Hi, the farm I grew up on and live today had a double corn crib that was constructed totally in steel and I'm wondering if any of you have ever seen one like it? I have pictures of it, but can't figure out how to post them from the computer I'm using now.
The story goes that my Great-Grandfather saw a display at the Iowa State Fair in 1927 and had them build him one that year. He wanted it to have a hip-roof to match the barn, so it looked just about like a comparable wooden crib. The cribbing "boards" looked similar to an old Farmaster gate, bolted horizontally to vertical steel "studs". It had a center driveway with a wooden flat floor over it because he didn't want to spend the extra $$$ for an inside elevator..... You had to unbolt the top four "boards" inside the driveway that were mounted with hinges in order to scoop the corn off the wagon into the cribs!
Later when the family got a portable elevator, we took a panel loose off the roof and filled the left side(there was a wall along the flat floor on one side), then the right, and finally filled the floor over the drive(there was no small grain storage in it).
When it was time to shell corn there weren't any drag chutes, so there were a couple of doors in the drive and the bottom 3 boards could be unbolted and hinged up to scoop to the sheller drag. After the left side was shelled out, we started on the right and when the corn was down far enough we had to scoop all the corn off that flat floor..... and then it all got scooped again into the sheller drag. Needless to say, it was pretty good exercise with a scoop shovel!
My Dad & Uncle converted it into a shop in the mid 80's when we quit picking corn so it doesn't look much like a corn crib anymore, but it is still standing nearly 87 years later!
I have the brochure from when it was new that my Aunt gave me, it was built by the Des Moines Steel Building Co. I have tried to research it, but haven't really found much. I have heard a few people say there was one somewhere near Waterloo Iowa, but I have yet to find another like it. Most people think they have seen one, but they always end up being a wooden building that had steel put over it. This one was all-steel construction when it was built.
Thanks for letting me rant! If anyone has any good, solid information about another one like it, please let me know.
I have not seen a metal crib like you described, but would like to see pictures if you can load them. I am east of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and see quite a few cribs remaining across SW Iowa. Several have been re-roofed with metal, so they might last for a while.
That sure looks like an efficient structure. We have made efforts to save the unique structures on our farm, especially if they can be repurposed. My family built almost all of them, and we still build one-off buildings for specific needs. We finished a shelter for our cattle squeeze chute last year that works very well, but I cannot figure it working for anything else. We still have an old carriage house that has been (of course) a carriage house, a chicken house, and a small shop. We are cleaning it out for it's next life as a garage. It is very likely over 100 years old, and still useful.
