North Pacific Grain Growers Photographs, 1918-1982

The North Pacific Grain Growers Company (NPGG) came into existence as a regional cooperative in late 1929 in Lewiston, ID, and organized as a company in April of 1930 in Spokane, WA. Following the stock market crash of 1929, agricultural prices plummeted to the point that farmers would be selling their crops at a loss. To prevent the collapse of the U.S. agricultural system, the Federal Farm Board's Grain Stabilization Corporation arranged loans for farmers. The NPGCC was created to handle initial loans of $3,500,000 for northwest farmers. Following that crisis, it remained in existence as a cooperative for the benefit of regional farmers. In 1938 the NPGG moved its headquarters to Portland, OR, where it would remain until 1983, when it merged with the Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association to become the Harvest States Cooperatives. In turn, that was merged into Cenex in 1998.

Grain elevators are towers which use (usually) bucket elevators or pneumatic conveyors to move grain from near-ground levels into a silo. The technology was developed in the 1840s, and allowed grain to be transported in bulk in vehicles rather than having to be bagged. Most small eastern Washington communities had their own grain elevators, usually located alongside railways ort rovers. The elevators in the scrapbook in this collection were photographed in 1918-1919, and most no longer exist due to improvements in agricultural technology, the natural decay of what were primarily wooden buildings, and changes in transportation capabilities. The river-based elevators in the loose photographs portion of the collection are mostly still in existence.