Our Signature Tanks

An emblematic feature of Morrison Ranch are the four grain tanks situated just east of Higley Road and south of Elliot. As we continue our tour of the Ranch, the tanks deserve some air time, since they hold such history and symbolism for us.

The tanks were constructed in the early 1960's to provide storage for grain delivered by rail to a spur near Higley and Williams Field Road. Here is a picture taken back then when they were being used for their original purpose:



The quonset in the foreground was used to keep the cattle feed dry; not shown in this picture is the mill which was used to mix the feed. Our feedlot was located to the right of this picture. If you want to hear about The Mister's experience running the mill, you can find that post here.

After building the lake, the tanks were framed nicely in all our pictures, but the quonset had fallen into disrepair, and the mill just wasn't all that attractive. We began to discuss how to improve the look:



After much hand-wringing and discussion (change is so hard!), we decided to take down the quonset. Repairing it and making it fit for a commercial use ended up in the too-hard-to-do box. Some of the outer skin can now be seen down the road at Joe's Farm Grill, on one of his quonsets. After removing the mill and the quonset, we had this picture:



Standing in open like this really accentuated the fact that they hadn't been painted in a while. Next on the list: hire someone to paint 80 feet of tank and go up 120 feet to paint the elevator:





Longtime readers of The Front Porch will remember the next job on the list, which Bias For Action persevered on until completion - the lights on the top:





And this is the view today, one of which we are proud:



For now, the tanks are fun to look at and we have no items on the do-list. In the future, we envision having retail and boutique shopping... maybe. But that will be far down the road, if it happens. For now, I'll just enjoy the view, take lots of pictures, and reflect with fondness on their past and present raison d'etre.