Grain Journal - July/August 2008 - (Page 66) OLD TIME ELEVATOR Painting Wood Elevators RECOLLECTIONS OF A NEARLY LOST ART BY A RETIRED EXPERT by Barbara Krupp Selyem In 1948, Mark Gilleland, an industrial arts major at Montana State University in Bozeman, went to work doing industrial painting for a local construction contractor, Tschache Brothers. The job paid $1 an hour, with a 25-cent-per-hour bonus, if the employee painted all summer. Those were good wages for a college student. After he graduated in 1952, Mark accepted Tschache’s offer of a fulltime position, and during his 42-year tenure, as the company branched into other ventures, Mark’s responsibilities grew and diversified. Still, his recollections of his early years working on a two-man paint crew are some of his most memorable. “We painted bridges; water and radio towers; the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park; most of the town of Fort Peck, MT; and of course, grain elevators.” How It Was Done In the years before OSHA and hydraulic lifts, two men could paint a grain elevator, office, and drive shed and install two small signs in 45 to 50 hours. One man painted, and the other did the groundwork. The most tedious and timeconsuming part of the job was the setup. The men rigged block and tackles with either a swing stage or bosun chair depending on the nature of the job. For minor repairs and spray painting, they used a chair. However, if the repairs were extensive to the cribbing or siding, or if they were painting signs, they used a swing stage, because it would accommodate two people, tools, and materials. If no one was available during the day to send up food and water by rope, they took that, too, as the swing stage was extremely heavy, and moving it was very hard work. For minor repairs and spray painting, the man on the ground controlled Retired painter Mark Gilleland painted GTA logos such as the one shown here on a wood elevator at Brantford, ND. Photos by Bruce Selyem. 66 GJ J/A
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