Gascozark, MO: 1931 Abandoned D-X Gas Station on US-66 and Gasconade Hills Resort

Gas and Cafe: (Satellite)

Resort: (Satellite)

US-66 Overview

Route 66 Postcards posted two photos with the comment:

Here is a "then & now" of the Gascozark Service Station & Cafe, Gascozark, Missouri, on old Route 66. Frank Jones settled here in 1931, on Route 66, and opened this cafe and service station, which he gradually expanded. He hired a stonemason to give them a uniform appearance, and that is how this giraffe-rock structure, also called slab-rock, was created. He later sold it in 1935 to the Shuermanns. It was also known as the "Spinning Wheel café". The pumps to the east of the building once sold D-X-branded gasoline. The building has a neat curved parapet giving it a peculiar appearance.

   Here is a complete history:  https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/webgeezer/Gazette07/Gascozark.pdf

   The 'now' photo is courtesy of Google in August 2023.

Get Your Pics on Route 66 - A Route 66 Promoter: I made this video 10 years ago. I later found out many of the things that I stated were incorrect. So, maybe don’t pay attention to the audio but at least you can see what the interior look like 10 years ago.

https://youtu.be/QfCZ3HLbzBc?si=iEkCLrLvGcGIW_u0 [I didn't watch. I don't care for "urban exploration."]

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Robert Rothbauer posted, cropped
Old “Giraffe Rock “Cafe west of Waynesville Missouri
[The sign clearly says Gascozark Cafe.]

Scott Redden commented on Robert's post

Scott Redden commented on Robert's post

Kathy Black commented on Robert's post
It looked so nice when I was there.

Scott Redden commented on Kathy's comment

They have not restored the station for the 100th anniversary of Route 66. I'm surprised that the glass globes on the corner posts are still intact.

Street View, Feb 2026

Across the road is an antique store.

Street View, Feb 2026

Jeff Thisted, Oct 2023

There is the MO-133 exit off I-44 just a block away.

Satellite

OldStageCoashStop

Before motels were developed, roadside lodging used several little cabins. The Gascozark Resort is now a RV park.

OldStageCoashStop
The area had already been established as an area for resorts. People from St. Louis would ride the Frisco Railroad to the resorts. Route 66 made it even more convenient for city folk to escape to the countryside. 

Rutherford, NJ: Erie Bergen Junction (BJ) Tower

(Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2021

Patrick O'Connor posted two photos with the comment: "Bergen Junction tower in Rutherford, which controlled the junction between the Erie Main Line and Bergen County Line. Lasted used in 1963 when the tracks through Downtown Passaic were ripped out. Now used by MOW."

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The northern boundary of Rutherford, NJ, is along the abandoned Erie route.

1955/58 Weehawken Quad @ 24,000

Thomson, GA: Event Venue/Georgia Depot

(Satellite)

I was going to get a view without the pile of ballast, but then I decided that it is good to record that whoever owns the tracks today is maintaining them. Google Maps labels the statue on the left as "Women of the Sixties Memorial."

Street View, Feb 2024

This is the mural we see on the left in the above view.

Street View, Mar 2023

The mural has changed.

Street View, Aug 2016

And this is the other mural we see in the top view.

Street View, Feb 2024

thomson-mcduffie
Both the depot and annex are available for rental. (I wonder if the annex was the "colored waiting room.")

Gary Miller posted two photos with the comment: "Former Georgia RR depot in Thomson, GA before & after renovation."

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Berkeley Springs, WV: Preserved/B&O Depot

(Satellite)

The land in front of the depot used to be a stub railyard because the B&O branch ended here.

Street View, Sep 2023

Don O'Brien posted four photos with the comment:

Berkeley Springs, WV

I thought it opened at noon as a welcome center. It never opened. Ended up seeing a sheet taped to the inside of the door window saying to go to a museum somewhere else in town. Heck I just wanna see this station.

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A B&O branch terminated in this town.

1901/45 Hancock Quad @ 62,500

The branch left the mainline in Hancock.

Rumsey

Tara, IA: Junction of CN/CC&P/IC vs. UP/C&NW; Old Grain Elevator; New Grain Plants and Dilapidated IC Depot

Junction: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

CC&P = Chicago, Central & Pacific. ICG sold the IC mainline that went west of Chicago to CC&P. And then IC bought it back.

Dale Hearn posted
Michael R Morris: And that rare grain elevator is magnificent. [I believe that is a glazed tile grain elevator. They are quite rare.]

There is a yard here because an IC route splits off to go southwest to Council Bluffs (and UP) and the western route continues to Sioux City.

1965 Moorland and 1978 Clare Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

It appears that several companies have built greenfield "Fort Dodge" plants here so that they have cheap land and a choice of using CN or UP.

Satellite

It occurred to me that these plants might have been built in the 21st Century and that the order of construction would show up on Google Earth. Indeed, that is the case.

It was still just farm fields in Oct 2004.

Googe Eerth, Nov 2004

Valero Renewable Fuels - Fort Dodge, IA had to buy just one homestead to get the land they needed for their plant. It produces fuel- and feed-grade corn oil as well as ethanol and distillers grains. "Valero’s Fort Dodge plant was the first of its design to be built for an original production capacity of 110 million gallons per year. The plant buys corn directly from farmers within a 60-mile radius." [valero] I wonder if the distillers grains are wet or dried. Some ethanol plants skip the step of drying the distillers grains by shipping them directly to feedlots in Texas so that they are consumed before they spoil.

Google Earth, Nov 2005

The Oct 2006 image looks similar to the Aug 2005 image.

In the next available image, Sep 2007, we see that Cargill has started ground prep for its Corn Milling Ethanol Plant.

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They are still building it in Oct 2008.

Google Earth, Oct 2008

This Sep 2009 image is overexposed. (It makes you appreciate how good the other images are.) But I can see a cut of tank cars going through the loading dock, so the plant must be up and running.

Google Earth, Sep 2009

There was no significant change in the Sep 2010 and Sep 2011 images.

In this Apr 2012 image we can see that they have started ground prep for the CJ Bio America plant.

Google Earth, Apr 2012

There is quite a gap in the images. By Jun 2015, the CJ Bio plant was done. Also note that another entrance was built for the Cargill plant on the west side of the property.

Google Earth, Jun 2015

The new entrance of Grain Ave and Cargill Rd handles their truck queue so that Harvest Ave can be used to access the CJ Bio plant. Even though they can unload two trucks at the same time, the satellite caught a truck queue with more trucks than I care to count. They must have farmers deliver throughout the year because the plant does not have a lot of grain storage.

Satellite

It looks like Valero ships dried distillers grains (DDSG) to feedlots and/or feed mills that are close enough that they don't need rail service for that.

valero

Unlike Valero's web site, Cargill's web site is one of those designs that refuses to talk about locations. I find that so frustrating. Concerning CJ Bio, I found the following on their timeline page:

cjbio-history

Lysine is an amino acid that is used to supplement animal feed. CJ Bio produces it with a fermentation process, so their input is corn, not soybeans. [cjbio-lysine] Basically, it is like an ethanol plant except they use a strain of yeast that poops lysine instead of alcohol. The above history entry says they produce powdered lysine. But the satellite image shows them loading tank cars. The lysine page does say they produce liquid as well as powder and granule forms of the product.

IC Depot

Isaac Stickrod posted three photos with the comment: "Some pictures I took of the abandoned depot at Tara IA on 12-9-24"

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[We can see the junction in the left background.]

Shelby, MT: Some Grain Elevators and Fertilizer Supply

(Satellite, the elevator in Seven's photo below. The rest of the elevators are west and south of this one.)

Steven J. Brown posted
Amtrak Empire Builder #8 at Shelby, Montana - February 26, 2002.

The railyard in Steven's photo is on the right in this view. It doesn't look like it has been used for a while.

Street View, Sep 2025, looking Westish

The elevator is now owned by CHS. And even if the yard is not used, something in town is getting rail service.

Street View, Sep 2025 (Satellite)

This is Nutrien Ag Solutions, which sells some of the many chemicals that are now needed for American agriculture.

Street View, Sep 2025 (Satellite)

The elevator on the left is another view of the CHS elevator. The building on the right is also a CHS facility. Judging by the trucks parked by it, this building probably holds bulk fertilizer.

Street View, Sep 2025, looking Eastish (Satellite)

CHS has another storage elevator down the road. It has a fall protector, so it gets rail service.

Street View, Sep 2025 looking Eastish (Satellite)

And Ardent Mills has an elevator in this town.

Satellite

Great Northern had two routes through this town.

1954/67 Shelby Quad @ 250,000

BNSF still owns both routes.

BNSF