Cape Girardeau Sand Okay guys, what is this? It was located between the flood wall and Water Street in Cape Girardeau just south of the old shoe factory right along the Frisco mainline.
Tim, I'm not sure where my sketches of Sanborn maps are located, but I recall finding evidence of a sand loader in this area on N. Main in the 1920s. I think there may have been a conveyor over the main line that led to a loading facility with a sidetrack. I'd have to look at a map or find my sketches to remember for certain.
Guys, That is the remnant of a sand company that had a dredge on the Mississippi River, with a long conveyor to this cleaning building. They cleaned and sold the river sand at this location, and this facility loaded trucks. I don't recall seeing a spur for railcar service, but I do remember going with my Dad when I was very young to this plant to buy sand for my sandbox at home. We took a big tub and had it filled for a quarter. I think the building of the floodwall ended the operation. By the way, just north of this facility was the Missouri Utilities garage, a red galvanized steel structure with two stalls. This building used to be the car barn for the Cape trolley system. I remember when the tracks were still in place.
Looking closer at your picture, it does look like a rail spur under the sand chutes. Perhaps the Frisco shipped or bought their sand here. That building in the background also looks like the trolley car barn, so maybe it is still standing.
This is the area where the Cape trolley cars were located. In the far lower right corner of the picture of the "Sand House" in the previous post below you can barely see the BNSF mainline roadbed. That's how close this structure was to the mainline. These pictures were taken about 1981. We went by there after church this past Sunday and it is still there, as is the building behind it.
In this thread are comments concerning the Cape Girardeau trolley or streetcar system. Below is a link to an article in the Southeast Missourian about the Cape Girardeau system, its history and a route map. https://www.semissourian.com/blogs/pavementends/entry/69563 Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
The map is not quite complete. The spur Line south to the Frisco shops in South Cape actually did not join but instead crossed the Good Hope Street line, continuing northward on Frederick all the way to Broadway, where it joined the Broadway line with a switch from the east. Frisco employees could change car lines at the Good Hope crossing if necessary. Ask me how I know? I lived across from Trinity Lutheran Church in my early days, and later I mapped the entire system in the 1960s as it was being removed. Keith Robinson has the map that I made. Ken McElreath
The concrete structure is (was) in fact, a bin or set of hoppers for holding various grades of sand or gravel dredged from the Mississippi River. Attached is a photo that shows the structure surrounded by superstructure that included the conveyors and grading sieves. The sand that was pulled from the river was washed with river water but was never to the quality of use for sanding locomotives. Also attached is a page from the 1931 Sanborn Map for Cape Girardeau, showing the location of the sand company and bin on the east side of Main Street on North Street. It was, in fact, rail-served.
On the Sanborn map note the sand hopper adjacent to the Mississippi River. Dredged material from the river was cleaned and first transferred to this structure. It then was conveyed west through the tunnel under the railroad tracks, made a 90 degree right turn to the south to the second one story structure. This building is visible in the first photograph to the right of the concrete tipple. It passed through the square opening in the wall as it started up an inclined conveyor that passed the material up to the top of the concrete tipple. At the top of the concrete tipple different sizes or grades of the material were sorted into separate holding bins. Along the top of the tipple a director diverted the material to the desired bin. Gravity then took its tole as the material fell. Based on the discharge chutes on the side of the tipple, there are at least four holding bins. The metal nuts and bolts indicate placement of reinforcement tie rods to prevent the side walls from bulging. They may also have served as attachment points for pulleys and other rigging for the discharge gates and chutes. The tipple then dispensed the desired material into railcars or trucks for delivery to customers. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
The location of this photo is on Good Hope Street, just east of the crossing of the north-south spur line to the Frisco shops. That was the only passing siding of which I am aware on the system, other than near the shops on North Main Street. Ken McElreath
Notice in the upper part of the photo, the streetcar house with the open door facing Main Street. Ken McElreath
