GRAIN ELEVATORS.

GRAIN ELEVATORS. To find out more about the history of the Chicago grain trade, I went to my library to look at NATURE’S METROPOLIS: CHICAGO AND THE GREAT WEST by William Cronon. Cronon sketches a number of factors which facilitated the Midwestern grain market. Credit for farmers was available, often from the local store. Insurance was available. Because grain was sold in sacks and the farmer or local merchant owned the sacks of grain until they reached New Orleans or New York, insurance was an important business in Chicago by the 1840’s. The major change in the 1840′s was the freight elevator, which used machinery to move grain into and out of the building. The Chicago Board of Trade dealt with the often overlooked tasks of inspection and measurement, which became important for the use of grain elevators. Sacks were eliminated. Grain was commingled by grade and the owner simply received a warehouse receipt, which was then bought and sold. The Board of Trade became in some ways a governmental agency: the Illinois legislature granted it the power to make inspection and grading rules and to decide contract disputes.