Depot: (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.
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.
CC&P = Chicago, Central & Pacific. ICG sold the IC mainline that went west of Chicago to CC&P. And then IC bought it back.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
They are still building it in 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.
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.
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They are still building it in Oct 2008.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| 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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| 3 [We can see the junction in the left background.] |
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