Towns and Nature

Monday, February 23, 2026

Hettinger, ND: Active Wood Grain Elevators and Lost/Milwaukee Depot

Elevators: (Satellite, there are three wood elevators stills standing and a lot of white bins on the west side.)

Depot: (Satellite, the land has been reused. The water tower was just east of the depot.)

Looking Northwest

Street View, Dec 2021

In the left background of the above view, I noticed a pipe slanting down across the road. So I "drove" to the other end of town to check that out.

Looking Southwest

Street View

And I happened to catch a BNSF train working the town. That saves me from researching who now owns the tracks.

Street View

BNSF is still [2021] using old locomotives on its local trains. I'm not a railfan, but I know that a narrow cab and old liveries mean that they are old. In fact, I think the one on the left is the original Heritage 1 livery, and the one on the right is the "Swish H1" livery.

Street View

I don't think any of these elevators are extant. They have either been remodelled or replaced.

Mark Taylor posted
Hettinger, ND 1909

Paul Hurst: Now that is a very rural photo. Five grain elevators and not much else.

Ken Draper commented on Mark's post
Hettinger ND, Sept. 2020.

Ken Draper commented on his comment
Same trip, a little further up the line in Hettinger ND.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Paul's comment
As with most railroad towns, where there are grain elevators, there is a depot and water tower. But it strange that we don't see any buildings along today's Railroad Ave by 1909.

Not only are there two trains in town, the second unit on the left train has the Executive livery. I don't see that paint scheme out here in Chicagoland.

Digitally Zoomed

A view from the town side of the tracks. I think the depot would have been in the left foreground.

Street View

This implies that the depot was between Railroad Ave. and the tracks and between 5th and 6th Streets.

1974/79 Hettinger South Quad @ 24,000

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Ryegate, MT: Wood Grain Elevators

Gone: (Satellite, we can still see the slab foundation.)

Extant: (Satellite)

Looking Northwest.

Street View, Sep 2025

The wood elevator is on the right. I don't know what they would be storing in the white bins on the left. Looking North.

Street View, Sep 2025

As recently as Aug 2013, there were two wood elevators in town. And the white bins do not appear in the Oct 2007 view. Looking South and the extant elevator is on the left.

Street View, Aug 2013

Does this truck deliver bulk feed or bulk fertilizer?

Digitally Zoomed to the right of the left elevator above.

I'm guessing fertilizer. So that is what the white bins must be for.

Street View, Nov 2021

In fact, they have multiple trucks.

Street View, Nov 2021

Sam Walter posted

Ryegate, Montana.

Town was originally established by the Milwaukee Road in 1908.

[It looks like to the right of the 18-wheeler, they have a big-tired spreader.]

The town has just one gas station, but two bars and two churches.

Satellite

Meriwether, MT: Active Wood Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2024

Gary Clark posted
Meriwether, Montana. January 04, 2026.

The railroad was the Great Northern. And the town was Bombay.

1911/11 Blackfoot Quad @ 125,000

I traced the tracks west from Cut Bank to verify that this elevator is on BNSF's northern transcon.

BNSF

This is just one of many elevators that Columbia Grain operates in the northwest USA.

ColumbiaGrain

And it appears that it gets rail service. It looks like it has a siding with a fall protector.

Street View, Oct 2024

And a satellite image caught some hoppers on those sidings.

Satellite

While tracing the GN route west of Cut Bank, I noticed another grain elevator that has no town around it.

Satellite

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Lynnville, IA: 1848 Museum/Wagaman Mill

(Satellite)

Looking West

Street View, May 2023

Iowa Road Trip posted

In the small town of Lynnville, you’ll find one of Iowa’s most fascinating pieces of working history — the Wagaman Mill & Museum. Built in 1848, this historic grist mill once served as the heartbeat of the community, grinding grain for local farmers and helping sustain early settlers in Jasper County.

Today, the site also operates as a museum filled with local artifacts, antique tools, and exhibits that tell the story of Lynnville’s early days. Volunteers help keep the building and its stories alive, and during special events you may even see milling demonstrations that bring the past roaring back to life.

If you love off-the-beaten-path Iowa road trip stops — especially places where small-town history still stands tall — Wagaman Mill is worth the detour. It’s quiet, authentic, and a powerful reminder of the ingenuity that built rural Iowa.

📍 Lynnville, Iowa

📸 Brian Abeling / Iowa Road Trip

Matthew Whitt, Aug 2022

Looking North

Street View, May 2023

Cheryl Kluck, Sep 2022

The pinion gear that we see in the above photo drives the curved rack that we seen in this photo. The blade shafts with the missing brackets show how the bracket shoves the blade to and fro to adjust their angle, and thus the waterflow. The "steering wheel" in the above plaque is what turned the pinion gear.

Nikki Engelhardt, Apr 2021

This is an even better view of the rack and pinion. It also shows that the collar that the rack turned is broke. And looking at the dates on these three turbine runner photos, it appears that they are slowly adding brackets and control rods.

Mike Warden, May 2019

The auxiliary buildings provide a lot of room for museum displays. I added the "communication" label because this display has at least three generations of telephones in addition to the switchboard. And it just occurred to me that the "modern" landline phone in the lower-left corner is now rather history. That makes me feel old.

Pete Compo, Jul 2017

I kept seeing photos of a windmill. But I could not find it. Is it even in this town? I went back and verified that all the photos with a windmill or big brick buildings were by Kenny Bolen. So, he must have uploaded to the wrong location.