Trangsrud Elevator

Trangsrud Elevator. . Peder Borderud, Simon Hanson, Simon's nephew John Rustad, and Ole Svengaard visited the Red River Valley from Mitchell County, Iowa to examine homestead possibilities in 1870. They returned to Iowa and came back to the Red River Valley with more scouts, including Hans Trangsrud. Many established homesteads near the Sheyenne River. Hans Trangsrud's son, Amund, married Rikka Myrah and purchased a homestead one mile south of the family's original homestead., Their original granary for grain storage was built in the early 1900's. The family remodeled the granary in the early 1920s to add the elevator for handling grain and an area for horse-drawn wagons to drive into the loading area. The remodels also included a 10,000-pound scale and grain shoot covered by a trap door. The granary and elevator were used year-round as they stored grain in the fall, loaded and hauled stored grain to town for selling after harvest, cleaned seed grain in the winter, and for grinding cattle and pig feed. The elevator was converted to electric power in the late 1930s or early 1940s and the family continued to use it until the 1970s. The elevator's use discontinued when the handling capacity could not keep up with the volume of grain harvested by larger combines. Hank and Joyce Trangsrud donated the Trangsrud family grain elevator and original family house to Bonanzaville in 2009., (Caption) Photo of the Trangsrud's granary and elevator on the family homestead.