Towns and Nature: December 2025

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

St. Chales, MN: Steel Grain Bins Collapse

This collapse happened on Dec 1, 2025. No one was hurt, but the railroad, some roads and some businesses were closed for a while. Of course, they don't know, or won't say, what the cause was.

3:44 video @ 0:05
Grain Bin Collapse in St. Charles, Sananda McCall Reports

@ 0:06

This must have been a still that was taken during the collapses. Note that the bin on the right is compromised.

@ 0:46

Before the collapse, a citizen noticed a problem and notified first responders. So the area had been cleared out before the collapse.

2:26 video @ 0:55
St. Charles grain bin collapseS

The cleanup had progress far enough that the town was opened back up.

@ 1:30

The five bins were part of a feed mill. Those bins look tall and skinny. I wonder if they will determine that they are too tall and skinny.

Street View, Jul 2023

This appears to be the raw footage that the above news reports were using. It either took a while for the second bin to collapse, or it was pulled over to remove the hazard of it falling during cleanup.

Facebook Reel

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Olive Furnace, OH:1846 Historic Blast Furnace

(Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2013

Rich Gerber posted five photos with the comment: "Olive furnace. The structure is very impressive.— in Olive Furnace, Ohio."

1, cropped

4, cropped

5, cropped

As expected, the stack was built next to a hill so that it was easier to pour material (iron ore, coal and limestone) into the top of the stack. In this case, they built a stone arch bridge to access the top.

Mark Nisbet, Mar 2018

Dink Jones, Mar 2019
[This view is now blocked by vegetation.]

Manunka Chunk, NJ: Junction (U) Tower: DL&W vs. Pennsy

(Satellite)

Darren Reynolds posted

SS# 774 (U) tower has seen better days...

I have no information on this tower

Samuel Wills: Manunka Chunk, NJ, Junction of the DL&W old road and the PRR Bel-Del branch

William Strassner: Once again, the mechanical machine works [signalling pipelines] assisted in keeping the tower there... Erie SF, CNJ RH all stabilized somewhat by mech plant connections...

On the left side of the photo, we see the north portal of the Manunka Chunk Tunnels.

David J. Monte Verde commented on Darren's photo
Samuel Wills you are 💯 % correct .THE OLD DL&W & PRR Bel-Del, Pennsy trains entered the old [pre Cut Off] Lackawanna Main & ran from Philly to East Stroudsburg the DL&W serviced the Pennsy engines at the Gravel Place Pocono East Slope roundhouse ! The 2 Railroads lighted & filled in the bases and the small interchange yard there. About 5 years ago the there was another flood through the tunnels & wiped out the entire hillside right down to the NJ State highway and it was all filled with rip-rap. The Old Lackawanna Main had been removed in the late 1960s

Pennsy is the route to the southwest, so the D&LW must be the route through the tunnel.

1953/53 Belvidere Quad @ 24,000

Preston, ID: Wood Grain Elevator Torn Down

Wood: (Satellite)

Regular: (Satellite)

It looks like it took three bulldozers and an excavator to pull it over.

Facebook Reel
apparently old Salt Lake Elevator co elevator just got tore down today [Nov 20, 2025] in Preston,ID. just 500 yards from my parents home where I grew up. I found out from some people asking about the supposed earthquake they felt nearby. this is a video of it coming down. this page has some photos of it back in the day. It was definitely in poor condition but still I was sad to hear it is gone. One of the few "tall" buildings we had.

Back when it was still standing. Note the regular elevator in the right background.

Street View, Nov 2023

It looks like it was wood on top of concrete.

Street View, Jul 2008

They have added a lot of bins and legs to the regular elevator. I wonder if it is now a feed mill.

Street View, Nov 2023

This older view shows that the new stuff replaces some more wood elevators.

Street View, Jul 2008

Yep, I think it is a feed mill. The elevator that was torn down is in the right background. Evidently the school bus is now a Mexican restaurant.

Street View, Jul 2024

The town was served by two railroads. And the Oregon Short Line route is still active because the railcars stored on the tracks changed between views. I wonder who owns it now.

1915/15 Preston Quad @ 96,000

Monday, December 1, 2025

Kingfisher, OK: Grain Elevators including Wood Grain Elevator

Wood: (Satellite)

Flour Mill: (Satellite, do they still use the bins for grain storage?)

Feed Mill: (Satellite, it has been torn down.)

CHS: (Satellite)

Street View, Apr 2023

A CHS elevator is on the left, the wood elevator is in the center background and the mill is on the right.

Street View, Dec 2021

The feed mill on the left of this view no longer exists.

Street View, Apr 2013

This view catches part of the fall protector on the left side of the center elevator, and it has a better view of the old elevator on the left. The wood elevator is behind the center elevator in this view

Street View, Oct 2025

The feed mill looked like a modern facility. I wonder why it was torn down.

Street View, May 2013

The railroad was the Rock Island. I think RailAmerica got bought by someone else.

Street View, May 2013

Kathy Black posted four photos with the comment:

Kingfisher CO-OP in Kingfisher, OK
November 2025

Ron Ziggafoos: Looks like an old flour mill. Is it? [Unfortunately, there was no reply.]

2
[Is the feed truck left over from the torn down feed mill or is there a feed mill operation in the old flour mill?]

Cohoes, NY: Norlite Shale Quarry and Processing

(Satellite)

I learned about this company because their processing plant has covered up Locks 5-7 of the Enlarged Erie Canal.

norliteagg_production

Obviously, this is a quarry.

Satellite

I did more research when I noticed that their processing plant has two rotary kilns.

Satellite

The seam of Normanskill Shale is 450 million years old and 3000' (610m) thick. After drilling and blasting, the shale is hauled to a crushing and screening facility that reduces the size to the range of 3/8" to 2". (Sizes smaller than 3/8" is sold as normal weight road base.) The shale then spends 45 minutes travelling through the rotary kiln increasing in temperature from 800 to 2000-2100 degrees Fahrenheit. It stays at the high temperature for a while where it undergoes "incipient fusion where the shale is in a semiplastic state. At this point, entrapped gases are formed and expansion results creating individual non-connecting air cells. The expanded shale is then discharged from the kiln onto an air quenched traveling grate cooler." The resulting clinker is then crushed and screened for the final products. [norliteagg_production]

norliteagg_norlite

"Norlite is a manufactured lightweight, porous ceramic material produced by expanding and vitrifying select shale in a rotary kiln. The process produces a consistent and predictable high quality ceramic aggregate that is structurally strong, physically stable, durable, environmentally inert, light in weight and highly insulative. It is a non-toxic, absorptive aggregate that is dimensionally stable and will not degrade over time.

"Norlite offers designers solutions to the challenges of reducing dead loads, lowering thermal conductivity of building products, improving fire ratings, enhancing soils, and treating wastewater, just to name a few."

It is used to make concrete. Because of the air bubbles, the concrete is lightweight and has a thermal insulation value more than twice normal weight concrete. The concrete is also more fire resistant, chemically inert and resistant to abrasion.

The advantage of using lightweight concrete on bridge decks is rather obvious. [norliteagg_bridges]

What is not obvious is the advantage of internal curing. If the norlite is soaked in water before it is mixed in the concrete, then the air pockets store water that facilitates the hydration process. [norliteagg_curing]