Grain Elevators on the KATY Trail

One of the nice things about riding the KATY Trail is the documentation of history along the way. One of the items covered is the preservation of the early grain elevators.

Grain elevators were an important part of the development of the Midwest. They were located along the railroad at intervals that allowed the farmers reasonable travel time to move their grain for storage. Cities tended to grow around the location of the elevators.

The KATY trail across Missouri has preserved many of the grain elevators as a part of the railroad history. The documentation along the trail provides details on each.

Getting Ready for the Fireplace

Our mountain property is heavily wooded and until our purchase had not had the trees harvested. The end result was LOTS of dead standing timber. Some have blown over and others are near to doing so. I've cut a lot of the trees down and into fireplace sized lengths but left them spread over the mountain until family arrived to help gather and split.

We loaded the utility trailer behind the ATV and went through the woods gathering cut up logs and hauled them to the wood pile for splitting.

Harbor Freight sells a compact log splitter at a good price and it got good reviews from the user community so we acquired one and gave it a shot. Turns out to be a nice machine.

Blake and Julie splitting wood

Trailer ready to stack split wood on pile

Ready for cold weather

Grants Farm

While in the St. Louis area we visited Grants Farm. This is the former home of President Grant and has been purchased and preserved by the Anheiser Busch brewery. Some of the Clydesdale horses are kept there.

It includes a game preserve, petting zoo and a museum for horse drawn carriages along with a tasting area for brewery products.

Heather, Paul, Maddy, Phillip, Brycen, Wendy, Melanie and Joe on the tram getting ready to be driven through the game preserve and to the beer garden

Maddie feeding the baby goat

Horseback and camel rides are provided for the children

Checking to see if I have any food

Julie and Phillip entering the beer garden

Phillip enjoying the day

Still a bit too young for the beer tasting

Heather and Paul

Coke Ovens at Redstone

We traveled to Redstone, Colorado for a look see after reading reports the coke ovens are being restored and/or having their decay arrested. 

In their day these coke ovens were used to take coal from the nearby mines and convert it to coke by burning in a low air oven. The resulting product was then shipped by narrow gauge railroad to the steel mills in Pueblo for use in steel making.

Crushed coal was poured into the ovens through a hole in the top and then ignited. The door was then bricked up with just a small hole for air. 48 hours later the door was opened and the coke was raked out and loaded into rail cars for transport.

The nearby town of Redstone was created for the workers who made their livelihood working these ovens. There were as many as 200 in use.

The process left a glaze on the inside of the oven

The historical group is doing a nice job of preserving history

Box Canyon in Ouray Colorado

Ouray, Colorado has a fabulous geological feature in which a massive waterfall flows through a cave like recess in the rocks above the town. There are steel walkways that take you into the recess and walkways that take you down to river level. It is pretty spectacular!

The entry includes the ticket seller and a good explanation of the features of the park including birds, rock types, fauna and a selection of books for sale.

Well worth the money

Interpretive signs along the walkway explain the features

Emery, Bennett, Betsy and Blake 

Watch your head!

Up close and personal with the falls

There is a bridge above the falls that is part of the hiking trail above the town

The bridge gives access to unique geological structure

The bridge leads to a walk through a tunnel

View down from the bridge

Blake and the bridge