Bountiful Harvest

One of the most rewarding things about my work, I could self produce story ideas, create images and then do the writing (with help from great editors) during my three plus decades at The Pantagraph. This was one my favorite photo essays. I put several hundred miles on the Jeep covering the harvest in four different counties. Much of the story centered on Logan County’s oldest operating wood grain elevator in Chestervale, now closed but still standing.

The sign for Cornland, along Rt 54 between Mt. Pulaski and Springfield. Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
Two combines work in unison as they harvest soybeans against a setting sun North of Cornland at dusk on Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
Doug Wilson of Gridley, drives empty grain wagons off the Ruff Brothers Grain Company scale at Long Point, during a long day of hauling grain on Wednesday Sept. 19, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
A photo from 1917 shows what was then one of several Holmes & Maurer elevators, now the Chestervale Elevator which is located south of Lincoln on Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
Beason farmer John Richert, 88, sat in his grain truck with a load of corn to be dumped at the Chestervale Elevator, while Craig Strampp of Lincoln departs after off loading soybeans. Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
Last Stand
One more pass for a combine is all that is required to finish the harvesting of a cornfield north of Lake Fork on Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
A farmer brings a load of corn into the dump at the Chestervale Elevator.Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
Ralph Shew sweeps corn into the auger at the Chestervale Elevator on Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
With sunlight streaming in through a tinted sun shade, J. T. Shew, 5, leans on a counter while his Uncle, Allen Shew, samples grain in the Chestervale Elevator scale house South of Lincoln on Tuesday Sept. 18, 2007. J.T. and his brother Dillon, 12, were waiting for dad, Ralph Shew, to finish work at the elevator, the oldest operating in Logan County.
The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY