BUTTERFIELD AND Fairmont firemen survey strewn debris after the Adrian elevator at Butterfield exploded at 1:05 p.m. Thursday. Tossing metal and wood from the structure, injuring two persons and cutting off electrical power. The explosion and fire caused an estimated $100,000 damage. (Special Journal Photo)

BUTTERFIELD — “All I could think of was getting out of there,” said Zelda Hanson, who witnessed the Thursday afternoon explosion which ripped the top off Adrian Elevator, Inc., structure at Butterfield.

The blast caused an estimated $100,000 damage and sent two men to the hospital.

MRS. HANSON, a bookkeeper at the elevator,was inside the office area when the 1:05 p.m. blast shook the year-old building and “light(fire) came down” and then a second explosion occurred.

Unloading a truckload of grain in the alleyway between the elevator and the old feed mill at the time were Butterfield area farmer Harvey Sonnabend and elevator employee Charles Holland.

The two men and Mrs. Hanson managed to escape the elevator but the men, shedding their clothing as they went, suffered minor burns. They were listed in satisfactory condition this morning at Watonwan Memorial Hospital at St. James.

MRS. HANSON was shaken but unharmed.

Mrs. Hanson’s car received extensive damage from flying pieces of material from the wood and tin structure. Damage to the elevator, which contained about 60,000 bushels of corn and soybeans, was reportedly limited to the upper half of the 125-foot-tall building in this city of about 600 people.

A small fire apparently broke out near the top,holding back firemen who couldn’t utilize an inside stairway to the top because of the safety risk. Adequate fire equipment also was unavailable until a snorkel truck from Fairmont arrived at 2:40 p.m. and managed to douse flames in two grain bins.

THE EXPLOSION also caused a power outage as city residents were without electricity for about an hour. Northern States Power Co. crews by then had restored service.

As a result of the power outage, students at Butterfield School were immediately dismissed from school.

School Supt. Robert Voeltz was looking out of his office window, which faces the elevator, when the explosion occurred.

“It was just a terrible noise-it sounded like a million tons of dynamite,” he said.

MRS. HANSON said that after the “terrible boom,you could see the glass just rushing right in.”

David Voeltz, son of Robert Voeltz, said he noticed the impact stopped the school clock.

“I thought the boiler beneath us had exploded,” he said. “You could feel the whole foundation shaking.”

New Ulm Daily Journal

Jan. 30, 1976