Eastland Feed & Grain Expands to Area 51

By Lynette Forth For The Prairie Advocate News

SAVANNA – Tucked inside a portion of the 13,062 acres within the Savanna Army Depot, a local company is working to bring business back into the area. Eastland Feed and Grain Inc. is building a basic country elevator.

The Depot opened in 1917 as an ammunitions manufacturing and storing facility that remained active from World War I through the 1990’s. The Depot was permanently closed on March 18th, 2000 due to the Base Realignment and Closure act of 1995.

Following base closure, acreage was sold to private and public organizations. Riverport Railroad has invested in reworking the switch yard and its 72 miles of track with the hopes of utilizing access to Burlington Northern Santa Fe at the Robinson Spur.

But the US Fish and Wildlife Service manages 9,404 acres adjacent to the river, cutting off access to Pool 13 of the Mississippi River and restricting water access. Eastland Feed and Grain has purchased 32 acres of the Depot. A lot of research and hard work has gone into this project - a 250,000 bushel bin with a 10,000 bushel per hour drag conveyor will unload trucks that come into what has been named “Area 51.”

Bids will be offered based on the ability to market the grain.

“Logistically speaking, the grain to this site should flow from the north and east of the depot,” said Roger Coulthard of Eastland Feed. “Grain located south and east of the depot already has tremendous market access. It is up to us to be more than a country elevator. If we can add value to the grain by loading containers for export or loading it on rail for movement to the southwest, we will be able to increase our bid power.”

The elevator has been designed so that 2 million bushels of space and a second unload drag and leg will allow for the ability to dump 20,000+ bushels an hour.

The uniqueness of this facility is found within the deep pit design which is preferred for grain-only elevators. Area 51 has opted to use a drag conveyor which allows for the handling of feed ingredients for use in the mill and also as a staging point for delivery to the tri state area.

The facility also has the ability to store and stuff containers for export. Although a rail spur is not currently on the property, 65 miles of train track is available within a few hundred feet. In order to utilize this access, a rail car loader/unloader has been purchased from Compton Enterprises. This awesome machine can be viewed at www.comptonenterprises.com.

The chances of loading rail cars with grain for shipment from Area 51 seem good, but would require developing a relationship with an end user in the southwest. “We can load it, but someone has to buy it,” Coulthard added. Locally, Area 51 works with the Illinois International Trade Center, Riverport Railroad, BNSF Railroad, and BNSF Logistics.

Externally, the company works with freight forwarders, brokers, elevators, merchandisers, and anyone else who is in need of product loading on or off of railcars or containers for movement regionally or globally.

To learn more information about Area 51, please contact Jim Forth at . Plans for opening are slated for the second week of October.