One of the primary clients of Midwestern and great plains railroads were grain elevators. Oklahoma farmers
would harvest their wheat, corn, oats, and pecans, load them onto farm trucks, and then haul them to the nearest
grain elevator. There the crops would be stored until they could be loaded into box cars (and in later years,
grain hoppers) for shipment. These elevators were often found every few miles along the railroad's right-of-way.
Since paved highways usually paralleled the train tracks, small rural communities with schools, churches, and a
store or two often developed near the elevators. The small Oklahoma towns like Afton, Fairland, and Chelsea still
exist, but the grain elevators are now much larger and farther apart, requiring farmers to truck their harvest a
much longer distance.
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