1946 fire upset Superior grain markets

It was 75 years ago last February when fire destroyed a Superior elevator located across the street south of what is now the Petro Plus Station. At that time the Day & Frees Lumber Yard was located there and the firemen worried the fire might spread to the lumber yard. Several pictures and a story printed in this issue of The Express retell the fire story.

The elevator fire was not only the largest in Superior's history but it caused a big disruption in the Superior grain market and left only two elevators with railroad access.

The Superior Milling Company located on east First Street was primarily a flour mill. Scoular-Bishop was operating the terminal elevator located west of the Burlington depot between the Burlington and Santa Fe yards but it did not have a truck dump. Instead the Scoular elevator was used as an interchange for grain received by rail from elevators located on the Burlington and then transferred to the Santa Fe for shipment. It wasn't uncommon in those years for Superior shippers to hold the record for the most grain shipped from the state during a month.

About a year after the fire, the Farmers Union Cooperative Association was organized. A small elevator and feed mixing plant located in the 200 block of Commercial was purchased by the association. And plans were announced to build a larger elevator between the Farmers Union Cooperative Creamery and the Valley Lumber Company. If built, it would have been located on the north side of the tracks shared by the Chicago & Northwestern and Santa Fe Railroads. Work was started on the scales but that is as far as the project went.

A deal was made whereby the cooperative purchased the Superior Milling Company and adapted the mill for the production of livestock feed. The cooperative's office headquarters was located in the former Bowman Seed building located on West First Street.

After the fire, the Scoular-Bishop Company embarked on an expansion plan. A truck dump and additional storage was added and Superior again had a competitive grain market.

The Agrex elevator that opened 1981 was the second elevator constructed in Nebraska for the purpose of loading shuttle trains. Now there are three such elevators in Nuckolls County. The Aurora Cooperative has shuttle loading elevators in Sedan and Superior in addition to the Agrex facility at Superior.

The Sedan elevator is located on the Union Pacific. Aurora's Superior elevators are served by what is now the combined Burlington Northern and Santa Fe system. The Agrex facility is served by both the BNSF and the Union Pacific.