Abandoned Grain Elevator, Montezuma, Park County, 1992

This photograph tells the story that is mentioned in the Project Statement. In farming communities grain elevators were the lifeblood of a small town. Farmers centered their business around the small town where they would deliver their harvest. When railroads quit serving the small town, many grain elevators struggled to survive. They tried to do the job with trucks but it simply was not efficient. When the family farm crisis hit newer, larger more regionalized grain storage centers were constructed which was the final blow for many small town grain elevator businesses.