Port Memory: Waves of Grain

This week we present a very special port memory, one from an elevator superintendent who worked at the port’s grain elevator for more than 33 years. Here, in his own words, is his port memory:

Bob Archer moved west from Colorado during World War II. He went to Roosevelt High School in Portland by day, and worked the swing shift with his father at night building Liberty ships nearby.

“I had a new bride and a new job,” Archer said with a smile about his first day of work at the grain elevator in 1957.

At that time the Archer Daniels Midland company leased the grain elevator, shipping corn, wheat, and grain domestically. The B-house, a grain storage facility, was built in 1953 and allowed grain to be moved more quickly onto ships.

When Archer was hired, a modification was underway that would extend the shipping dock by 300 feet and add a barge dock. Grain at the time was lifted out of the barges by a vacuum system, Archer said. It was then transported to conveyors. The longshoremen packed the grain tight after it was loaded onto ships. This important step kept grain from shifting while at sea, preventing the ship from capsizing.

When United Grain Corporation took control of the grain elevator in 1969, new technology paved the way for efficiency. By 1971, automated scales were added, as well as a basement belt shipping leg, bigger buckets and motors, and a bigger head for unloading grain.

“It was a big step forward,” Archer said. These improvements increased pouring capacity from 800 tons loaded per hour to 1,200 tons loaded per hour.

By 1981, United Grain had doubled production rates, loading 2,400 tons per hour with the introduction of a new ship dock. United Grain could now include the large Panama X vessels to its fleet of customers.

“When I started working at the grain elevator, it would take about 44 guys to load 800 tons an hour,” Archer said. “When I left, there were 18 to 20 guys working and loading double that amount.”

Archer also remembers working the day Mt. St. Helens erupted.

“It was a cloudy day with a strong west wind, and I saw it blow from the top of the elevator,” he said.

Archer retired January 1, 1991. He said it was his duty to share these stories because there are only two former grain elevator workers left from his generation, and “I’m the younger one,” he said with a laugh.

“The Longshore Union [ILWU Local 4] was great to work with because they could see these changes coming, and instead of fighting it, they came up with solutions beneficial to everyone.”

Archer has fond memories of his time at the Port of Vancouver and working at the grain elevator.

“It was a fun place to work because you got to see guys from all over the world,” he said. “There were long hours and hard work, but it was great.”

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