Grainnet

Written by Barb Selyem. Photos by Bruce Selyem

This is a story about pride, determination, and trust. It is about a woman who believed so strongly in preserving her family history that she willingly donated her time, money, and tireless effort to restore a 1909 farm elevator near Kalispell, MT.

Ellen Nauman is a native of the Flathead Valley of northwestern Montana. She is the granddaughter of Julius and Susanna Birgen Bruyer who had moved to the valley in 1901.

Family History
Julius Bruyer was a farmer who emigrated from France with his parents and siblings and settled in the Dakota Territor in 1859. Lured by the promise of prosperity touted by the Great Northern Railroad as it stretched west across Montana in the 1890s, Julius and Susanna sold their farm in South Dakota and purchased 160 acres for a dairy farm just north of Kalispell.

Ellen grew up just five miles north of the dairy farm, and though as a young bride she moved to Nevada with her husband, Carl Nauman, she returned home to the area many times over the years for visits with family and friends.

In 1998 on a trip home for her 50th high school class reunion, she became fixated on the grain elevator her grandfather, father, and uncles built in 1909. Time, weather, and lack of use had taken their toll. The Schulze family has owned the farm since 1949, but to Ellen, the granary represented the Bruyer family’s contribution to the history of Flathead Valley.

Building the Elevator
The Bruyers had built a sawmill on the farm and cut the wood for the cribbing and supports from their own timber. Julius copied the design and concept for the 11,000-bushel elevator from commercial elevators of the same period. Horses and, later, tractors pulled wagons into the elevator through the east or west doors. Using a handcrank lift, one could lift the wagon to dump the grain into a pit, then lower it so the horses could pull the empty wagon out the opposite door. A wooden bucket elevator (gone now) moved grain into and out of the storage bins. A stairway provided access to the cupola.

Restoring the Elevator
To Ellen, it seemed a crime that her family’s efforts had fallen into such disrepair. She began making inquiries about what it might cost to restore the old elevator, and she talked to a structural engineer who told her the building was sound but that the foundation was not.

With her husband’s encouragement, she approached the Schulze brothers, Gerald, George, and Roger, with an offer to invest $100,000 to restore the grainary. Gerald and Roger liked the idea, but George (perhaps skeptical about an offer with no strings attached) thought the elevator simply should be torn down.

For the next few years, Ellen continued to explore possibilities, and on each visit to Montana, she talked to more people–construction companies, roofers, engineers, city and state officials, neighbors, and, of course, the Schulze family.

In April 2004, she invited Bruce and Barbara Selyem of the Country Grain Elevator Historical Society to meet with her and Carl as well as Gerald and Genevieve (Gerald’s wife) at the elevator site. Armed with ideas from that meeting, along with the Schulzes’ offer to donate the elevator property, Ellen met with a lawyer to establish a nonprofit to protect the elevator and provide some tax and legal advantages.

Soon, she realized that nonprofit status was going to require a lot of paperwork and take a lot of time, during which the elevator would continue to deteriorate. So, with the Schulzes’ approval she hired Robert W. Ross: Building Constractor, Inc. (Kalispell, MT) to begin renovation, without any legal agreements.

Ellen says: “The foundation and the roof were our first concerns. The elevator was jacked up, while a new concrete foundation was poured to replace timbers that had begun to rot. Then the wood-shingled roof was replaced with cedar shakes. In every effort we strove to maintain the integrity of the original building.”

She continues, “The elevator had not been used for storage since the 1970s. It was simply a home for pigeons. All the windows were missing or broken, and that provided easy access for the birds.

“When we cleaned, we hauled out 5,000 lbs. of pigeon droppings and old junk. We replaced the windows with ones chosen to replicate the originals, but the pigeons still hung around, hopeful they could get back inside.”

Today, the elevator exterior is completely restored, with a new coat of green and cream-colored paint. Restoration began in June 2004 and was completed this past June. Though built for function, the elevator is definitely charming, with its milled trim and cornices. The interior was cleaned, and as, still in good condition, was otherwise untouched.

A Relic for Future Generations
What about the future? “We have applied, with the help of Kate Hampton of the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places,” says Ellen. “When that happens, we will put up a memorial. Also, Carl and I are establishing a $25,000 trust for the future maintenance of the building. My great nephew, Travis Bruyer, has agreed to manage that. Other plans are, as yet, undecided.”

When asked how she feels when she looks at the Bruyer Granary now, Ellen says with great emotion, “I feel proud.”

Barbara and Bruce Selyem are directors of the Country Grain Elevator Historical Society. For more information, contact the society at 406-388-9282; e-mail: bselyem@country-grain-elevator-historical-society.org.

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