Golden dome is difficult to miss in Clinton

Font Size:

By Steven Martens | Monday, July 23, 2007 12:17 PM CDT | () comments

(Jeff Cook/Quad-City Times) A coal storage facility at the ADM plant in Clinton.

CLINTON, Iowa — You might say the sun always rises in Clinton.

A new industrial landmark looks like a “big, gold sun ball,” says Julie Allesee, director of the Clinton Convention and Visitors Bureau. Or a giant peach. Or a space ship.

Whatever people are calling it, the large golden dome situated on the Archer Daniels Midland Co. property on the south side of Clinton is definitely hard to miss.

“It certainly has changed the look of Clinton,” Allesee said.

Many visitors to Clinton have been wondering what the dome is since it was built last winter.

The dome is a coal storage facility for the cogeneration power plant currently under construction at ADM. It is made of reinforced concrete that is 1 foot thick at the base and 6 inches thick at the top, according to Jim Woll, manager of the Clinton plant.

The gold color comes from a gold protective fabric that covers the concrete, he said.

The giant tubes that look like a waterslide coming out of the dome contain conveyers that will bring coal to and from the dome when the cogeneration plant opens next year.

The dome is visible from all over Clinton, but is particularly eye-catching for drivers coming into town from the west on U.S. 30.

“To tell you the truth, it’s a cool thing to look at when you come in on 30,” Allesee said.

Eric Kline, who lives just north of the dome, said although he’s become used to the sight of the dome, it can be distracting when driving by.

“When it’s sunny, it will just blind you,” he said.

Marlin Garien, whose home along Camanche Avenue faces the dome, said he, too, is getting used to it.

“The first time I saw it, it was kind of funny,” he said.

Mike Kearney, a member of Clinton’s City Council, said he has seen the dome from the air while flying from Chicago to Moline.

“Particularly in the morning, that gold dome really stands out,” he said. “It certainly has become one of Clinton’s most obvious landmarks.”

Kearney said the dome even caught the eye of some of the presidential candidates who have campaigned in Clinton. Tommy Thompson asked about it, and Bill Richardson was “intensely curious to know ‘what in the world is that great big dome?’ ” Kearney said.

Greg Barnes, who has been selling sweet corn in a parking lot across from the dome this summer, said some of his customers ask him about it, but he’s already gotten used to seeing it.

“I just don’t pay any attention to it,” he said.

The dome will take over the landmark status long held by the ADM grain elevator featuring a giant Mr. Peanut logo high above the ground. The grain elevator, no longer in use, is in the process of being demolished by ADM.

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.

Dome stats

What it is: A storage dome for coal for Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s new coal-fired cogeneration facility that will meet the Clinton plant’s future energy needs.

Material: Concrete dome, covered by a gold-colored protective fabric.

Construction: Reinforced concrete, 1 foot thick at the base of the dome and 6 inches thick at the top.

Features: Two tubes connected to the dome contain conveyors that deliver and remove the coal. A conveyor inside the higher tube delivers coal to be stacked and stored, and the lower tube has a conveyor to remove coal to be crushed and burned as needed.

Source: Archer Daniels Midland Co.