Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> “When we were kids we’d go to Concrete Central – just fields over there, old railroad tracks. And we'd hang out."

Some of Buffalo’s grain elevators had already shuttered by the time Pat Needham was a kid, but he worked hauling and scooping grain for decades in Buffalo and around the Great Lakes. A tragic accident down in the hold of a grain ship put an end to his working life. Pat didn’t have to tell us what it was like getting pulled out from a ship hold without being able to feel his legs, but he did. Needham was interviewed in early 2020 by Kate Kaye.

NOTE: This story involves graphic injury descriptions, as well as descriptions of scooping gangs and scooping work and equipment.

]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Needham, Pat]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> "The scoopers were at the whim of everybody."

A railroad man at age 17 who would soon become the “boss” of a grain scooping “gang” in 1962, Jack Driscol toiled on Buffalo’s waterfront his whole working life. Jack shared memories of scooping grain deep down in the hold of a ship, of working with equipment that stayed the same since his dad's time as a scooper, and about what being the boss of a scooping gang was really like. Driscol was interviewed in early 2020 by Kate Kaye.

NOTE: This story features detailed descriptions of scooping gangs and scooping work and equipment, grain elevator and railroad operations and related work.]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Driscol, Jack]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Driscol, Jack]]> Needham, Pat]]> Kolodziej, Sam]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Brill, Fred]]> Needham, Pat]]> Kolodziej, Sam]]> Driscol, Jack]]> Roberts, Bob]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> Hyde, Bert]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo--Employees]]> Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Grain trade--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> “Girls didn't go by the waterfront.”

Most women and girls who lived in Buffalo's First Ward -- the waterfront community at the heart of Buffalo's once-pulsating grain industry -- never went close to the waterfront or worked among the grain elevators. But the industry was ever-present in their lives, from the grain that their husbands, fathers and brothers blew off their clothes when they came home for lunch, to the grain they sneaked from railcars, to the flour bags that mothers sewed into girls' dresses. Bert Hyde was interviewed by Kate Kaye in Buffalo in February 2020.

]]> Kaye, Kate]]> https://redtailmedia.org/spilling-grain/]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> Hyde, Bert]]> eng]]>