Do not attempt anything done in this video! It is for purely educational purposes. This is the Vinton Street grain elevator in Omaha, Nebraska. It is around 200 feet tall at its tallest point.
I worked there in the 80s. If I remember correctly, it was shut down in '86. Then I went to work across the Interstate at the ConAgra elevator. There were 4 elevators: Far-Mar-Co (in the vid) Allied Mills (south) Another I can't recall the name south if that. ConAgra. (29th&C St.) There were 2 more elevators that were demolished after fires in the late 80s south of ConAgra. I have been to the top of all of them in my younger days. Used to drink beer and fly kites off the CA headphones. Ahh... the good ole days... Back when you got a job with a company for life. We had a pension plan. Healthcare plan. Ample vacation time. I made $40K/year back in 1982. Then, POOF! All the good manufacturing jobs just disappeared.
The far-mar-co elevator in this video was operational in 1989 when they had to saw cut the two most southern silos for the interstate widening. The conveyor belt that the tripper ran up and down on had been respliced and the return roller moved to the north.
These elevators were also surrounded by houses. Sometime in the mid 80s the Interstate and Kennedy Freeway were widened and the houses were left abandoned. Some with furniture and belongings still in them. I worked Graveyard and would go exploring through the neighbor hood and elevators. Pretty spooky! There were squatters that lived everywhere. The abandoned Falstaff plant was just a bit North of these.
haha, did this climb yesterday with my buddy, since we arent old enough to drive we rode our bikes over 30 miles for this. Ladder is insanely sketch i definitely shouldn't have done it but man was it worth it! Glad i didn't fall and got to enjoy the views, all though i would not recommend people climb this because it is extrememly risky and a lot worse in person, my dumbass did it while pannicking the whole way up. Thank god i didnt fall but i will be back, lol.
Amazing video! I grew up a few blocks away from there and spent countless hours exploring around the elevators. Thank you for doing something I've wanted to do for 30+ years! I just didn't have the stones. Please post this video to platforms other than yt. I'm afraid it will be removed. Also, I'd like to save a copy for posterity, but can't download it from yt just now. Wow!
theres also a basement to these silos and the basement entrance is on the back under the highway bridge. I believe it might be flooded now but i was able to go during dead of winter about 13 degrees and there was about 4 feet of sheer ice and you could see everything under it frozen.
Tis facts! they are struggling to take them down because they cant just demo it like any other building. They actually spent $1.2 million, to deconstruct 4 of the silos in the 70's or 80's to make way for I-80. This is why they have sat abandoned for so many years. Someone bought the property in the spring for $700k and has been just sitting on it since. the asbetos and lead would go into about a 3 block radius for up to 21 days if they were to just knock it down or blow it up. They have to slowly take it apart from the top, down.
This type of concrete grain bin has been almost/entirely replaced by free-standing round, corrugated, galvanized steel grain bins resting on concrete pads. Often these new grain bins will hold as much as 1,000,000 bushels (1,244,456 cubic feet) of grain each. The steel grain bins are easier and faster to construct and more efficient to use. They are largely built at ground level (which is safer). They start by building the roof and the top ring. Then they use multiple jacks around the perimeter of the ring to lift up the entire bin about 4 feet. Then they bolt another ring to the bottom and jack it up another 4 feet. They continue to do this, working largely at ground level, until the bin reaches the desired height. Once that is completed, the elevator leg (tallest structure which lifts grain from ground level to above the height of the bins) is installed. Then down spouts are installed from the top of the leg to the individual bins. Then ladders and other hardware are added where necessary. Ground pits are also added so that semi truck can quickly dump their loads. The ground pits are connected to the elevator leg/s to quickly lift the grain to the top of the bin structure.
I bet you're right, there's usually a guy that goes around and collects those and charges them up then puts them back in whatever part of town they go, I bet he wont bother with that one, I undersrand they are found in some very strange spot, amd that one would qualify as strange,lol, wonder what they were doing with it.. Cool place to explore could you see down into the silos? I was always a little paranoid of those when in service, if you fall in you're as good as gone, I'm sure those are empty, a friend of my used to have to repel down from top to bottom with a air blaster to clean the sides. What a dirty disorienting mess that must have been.. Cheer.
@@exploretheabandoned Was operational in 1989 we first went inside 2003 looked like it was abandoned for a while I have never been able to nail down a date when it was shut down. Did you go in lately? I hear reports there are cameras up not sure if it is true.
