Bird Island, MN: Wood Grain Elevator and Two Co-Op Elevators

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2026

Wesley Peters posted

Bird Island, Renville County, MN.

Bird Island Farmers Elevator. Built in 1958, Hogenson Construction Co. Bushel capacity unknown.

Sadly, this beautiful structure was demolished in June or July 2026.

This is why photographing these structures is so important. One day they might be gone, and you will regret not getting that photograph.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photo courtesy of Wesley Peters.

They have torn down at least a couple of bins as well. The fall protector in the street view at the top of these notes shows that the two big bins are rail served.

Satellite

Photo, Jan 2019

The railroad was the Milwaukee. It is now the Twin Cities & Western Railroad.

tcwr via Dennis DeBruler

It looks like the co-op that is north of the tracks specializes in fertilizer supply.

Satellite

It gets carload rail service.

Julie W, Oct 2022

Mill Creek, IL: Lost/GM&O Depot

(Satellite, I think some of the foundation is left.)

Andrew Waldo posted

Mill Creek, Illinois: Passenger & Freight Station, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The M&O’s Passenger & Freight Station at Mill Creek was estimated built in 1896. It was photographed on 25 May 1916.

Credit: National Archives & Records Administration, ICC Engineering Field Notes, Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Illinois. Digital Image Collection of Andrew Waldo.

David Cantrell commented on Andrew's post
Depot visible in 1938.

Corona, MN: Wood Grain Elevators

Northwest: (Satellite)

Southeast: (Satellite)

Wesley Peters posted three photos with the comment:

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

Corona, Roberts County, SD.

Southeast Complex- Headhouse and studded annex. Early history unknown.

Northwest Complex- Farmers Elevator Co. Built in 1905.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.

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[Southeast elevator]

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[Northwest elevator]

This town has been underserved by Google Map's street view drivers so I'll use a satellite image for context.

Satellite

The railroad was the Milwaukee.

1971/74 Corona Quad @ 24,000

It is now operated by the Sisseton Milbank Railroad (SMRR).

tcwr via Dennis DeBruler

Dollar City, MI: 1890 Abandoned Quincy Stamp (Copper Smelting) Mill

(Satellite)

For the third day in a row, I found a plant with a smokestack. But this one is long abandoned. (The previous two smokestacks were a glass plant and a paper mill.)

This mill processed ore from the Quincy Copper Mine in Hancock, MI.

Street View, Sep 2008

There is also an abandoned hydraulic dredge, Quincy Dredge #2.

Andrew Nold, Oct 2019

I was "cruising" MI-26 with street view from Hancock, MI, to find this filling station. I did not find it. But I did find Quincy Mill.

Jim roepke posted
Mason Motors is Situated on highway M26 north of Hancock and Dollar Bay, Michigan. It is a popular roadside attraction and photo opportunity. 

 Back to the copper mill.

WaterfallsOfTheKeweenaw

This 175-foot [53m] tower was built in 1916 for the boiler house." [TakeMyTrip]

MikeOnline, 11th of 22 photos

"Construction began in 1888 and over time was built a boarding house, dock, cistern, six other buildings a pump and boiler house and a railway connecting the mill to Quincy Mine. The facility was completed in 1890 with two stamps, and a third added upon opening. Within two years, an additional two stamps were added.

"A second mill was already required, however, and Mill 2 was completed just north of Mill 1 in 1900. A new boiler and pump house were built and in 1916, a large smokestack was added.

"Mill 2 was closed in 1922, and the equipment modernized in Mill 1 between 1929 and 1930.

"By 1931, the effects of the depression were being felt and Quincy was horsed to close the mine and mill.

"In 1938, copper prices were improving and Quincy was able to refurbish and reopen the mill. This wouldn't last long, however, as the end of World War II horsed the mine and mills to close for good."

TakeMyTrip
"The dredge was put into use on the lake to suck up sand deposits that had been dumped here from the stamp mill during the previous decades. Advancements in technology gave the mining company the ability to reclaim more copper from the sand, making it profitable to re-stamp the ore.  The dredge was first built in 1914 and used on Lake Linden, then was sold to Calumet & Hecla in 1951 and moved here (when it was renamed the Quincy Dredge #2, replacing an earlier dredge).  It was used until it sank in 1967."

miroadtrip
"The Quincy Mining Company purchased a large plot of land on Torch Lake in the mid-to-late 1800s to serve as the site of its new mill after federal regulations forced the closure of its mill on Portage Lake."
[Dumping sand into Portage Lake was a navigation issue, not an environmental issue. That explains why there were federal regulation concerns in the 1800s.]
"Most of the buildings were demolished fairly soon after production ceased, but the newer addition to Mill #1 was completed around 1919, and the turbine house that was completed sometime around 1923 still remains today."

A stamper:

nps

Ortonville, MN: Wood Grain Elevator, 2002 Ethanol Plant and 1975 475mw Otter Tail Power

Wood: (Satellite)

Bioplant: (Satellite)

Power Plant: (Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2024

Wesley Peters posted

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

Ortonville, Big Stone County, MN.

Farmers Co-op Elevator Co. Early history unknown.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photo courtesy of Wesley Peters.

John Harker: Was a very well Maintained Wes Con Facility.

Did a lot of work there.

Now farmer owned

poet
"The [ethanol] plant produces 105 million gallons of bioethanol per year."

The power plant has one 456mw unit, and it burns subbituminous coal. It started in 1975, and it is subcritical. [gem]

otpco

The railroad was the Milwaukee.

1953/55 Ortonville Quad @ 62,500

The route to the north is abandoned, but the rest is now owned by BNSF. I found the ethanol and power plants when I spotted the industrial spur with a loop of track at the end. The loop of track handles unit trains.

National Rail Network Map

The elevator has its own locomotive, but I don't see a fall protector over the siding.

Street View, Jul 2024

Bellingham, MN: Wood Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

The wood elevator is in the left background.

Street View, Aug 2023

Wesley Peters posted four photos with the comment:

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

Bellingham, Lac qui Parle County, MN.

Early history unknown.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.

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Do the tanks in the street view at the top of these notes hold propane or androgynous ammonia? I think this is a propane delivery truck.

ronald unzen, Aug 2016

I think the tanks store propane because they not only have a propane delivery truck, but they also have a dry fertilizer delivery trailer. And the building below on the right obviously stores dry fertilizer.

Street View, Aug 2023

BNSF still owns this GN railroad.

1953/55 Bellingham Quad @ 62,500

Does BNSF provide carload service for the propane and/or fertilizer business? The siding is not long enough to load grain trains.

Street View, Aug 2023

Sierra Blanca, TX: Museum/Southern Pacific Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, May 2021

Raul Puente posted five photos with the comment: "The old Railroad Depot at Sierra Blanca, TX. For the last 30 years I have been driving through this town every summer in my way to Laredo. I finally stopped this last Friday to check out the town. The railroad Depot is now a museum and is located across the street from an old lodge. Very cool."

Thomas Dorman: Southern Pacific No. 3 type depot, built 1883. Sierra Blanca was the site of completion of America's Second Transcontinental Railroad (Joined Here in. 1881), SP meeting AT&SF, linking Atchison KS to Los Angeles CA, 15 December 1881.

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You don't find a collection of branding irons in a Midwest museum.

peetre, Sep 2016

I could not find the depot by looking at a satellite map. Fortunately, it is now a museum and Google Maps labeled it. When I saw the location, I understood why I could not find it --- it is too far from the tracks. It is far from today's tracks because the Southern Pacific route now joins the Missouri Pacific route east of town, and the SP tracks have been removed in town. Of course, both routes are now owned by UP.

1964/67 Sierra Blanca Quad @ 24,000