Mid Summer 2017

Summer is flying by.  We have been rocked by brutal heat in the Central Valley of California.  This has caused what was already an abnormal amount of snow in the high Sierra's to melt at a higher rate and rush down rivers and streams into reservoirs that simply can not handle this volume.  The only alternative was to "let it out," into the streams below. This of course has caused flooding down below in many areas.  Fortunately, the fertile Tulare Lake bottom has survived.  There were many bleak scenarios related to this, some as bad as 1969 that actually made the cover of Time Magazine.  But now, huge acreage of cotton will be planted, the biggest crop in years.  The entire cotton crop around the central valley looks as good as I have seen in many years.

The 1969 Flood was so serious that old cars were hauled in to place along the levee's to prevent erosion that could lead to serious compromise. A picture similar to this made the cover of Time Magazine.

1968 El Rico Gin

J.G Boswell's El Rico Gin had to be completely dismantled and hauled into the town of Corcoran and stored until the threat of the flood was over. Then, rebuilt.

This gin had many first for the industry.

World's First 40 BPH Gin plant.

First to have bales strapped naked at press.

First to have Automatic Trailer dump

First 10 foot cleaning equipment.

First drying systems to handle these types of capacities.

Design Engineer. A. L Vandergriff

We are glad the that things did not reach this level of seriousness with the heavy snowpack of 2017. This will allow companies like J.G. Boswell and other central valley farmers to plant as much cotton acreage as they like. Good news indeed.  

More news:

Vandergriff Inc has several projects going now that give cause for some excitement as the gin season approaches. On the gin rib front, we were thrilled we could help out a couple of gins that had ordered and  received new gin ribs that were not straight, making it all but impossible to even get them installed.  We happened to have enough in our inventory to supply them and solve this issue for them. You all know that Vandergriff Ribs will never show up to a gin with issues related to straightness.  We have pretty much sold out of all models of our ribs now.  That's usually the case when it gets to be this time of the year.

We got many of our Jet Dryers in some nice gin plants this spring and summer as well. In an environment where energy costs are a real factor, these dryers are extremely efficient to operate.  Lots of natural single locking action going on in the dryer that prepares the cotton to do a better job of releasing trash when it hits the incline cylinder cleaners.  More and more ginner's are seeing the benefit of switching over to Jet Dryers to dry and condition their cotton while saving money on energy costs as well.

We hope as gin season fast approaches, that it will be a good season for everyone.  Don't hesitate to give us a call.

Loyd Vandergriff

559-324-8848

vandergriffinc.com