The pitch sounds like something you would hear 100 years ago, when railroad workers first laid track to Rapid City.

Rail is cheap, a railroad agent would say. It will open up the area in ways some may not be able to imagine.

Wednesday morning on the outskirts of Box Elder, Lon Hubbard of Black Hills Transload made a similar case for his facility, which will provide a transfer point between rail cars and trucks.

Hubbard's voice was sometimes swallowed by the empty space of the cavernous storage building in which he spoke. But he wasn't quiet about the good his business will bring to the area as products transported by cheap rail are offloaded onto trucks for delivery in the area.

"And then from here, they distribute it locally," he said as he laid his plan out for Box Elder and area business leaders and political representatives. "Hopefully, that will save the state money."

While the Black Hills Transload operation might help the area's national retailers - the big box stores - it also will serve as a boon to the little guy, who can catch a break on expensive shipping costs, he said.

"It will certainly help some of the mom-and-pop operations that have been here for years and years and years," he told reporters.

He had another reason, one likely not used by the rail promoters of old: It will help the environment and save energy. Rail cars can carry a truckload of merchandise or lumber three times the distance using the same amount of fuel.

"Since the energy crisis has come on, it has made more and more sense," Hubbard said about his planned facility.

The shipment transfer point also will likely cut rail traffic into Rapid City by 20 percent, he said.

Hubbard will own the operation, and the transfer point will serve as a skeleton for a business park. Ken Kirkeby, a Rapid City Realtor, is listing the lots located between U.S. Highway 14-16 and the railroad.

The storage building will be only one of three on the property. The two other buildings - yet to be built - will arch over rail spurs. That way, rail cars full of lumber, concrete and general merchandise can be offloaded in the rain or snow.

While Hubbard spoke, Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad workers began removing a stretch of rail nearby to be replaced by the massive rail switch that will route cars onto the Transload property.

The project is good for Box Elder, Mayor Al Dial said.

"We look at it from a standpoint that we feel that's a good location for an industrial park," he said.

Box Elder annexed the land, which is just south of Interstate 90 on his city's far east end. Because the property is now in Box Elder, it will benefit from city water and sewer hookups.

Dial said talks also continue regarding a possible new exit on Interstate 90 east of the existing Exit 67.

"We're already working on that. It's premature to say at this point," he said. "Virtually everyone's long-range goal is to get more access there."

Back under the storage building's soaring roof, Hubbard said he will keep prodding the project forward to a completion date tentatively set for the end of October. He has no project lined up next.

"This is my last rodeo," he said.

Black Hills Transload by the numbers

7 miles east of Rapid City

13,000 square feet of high-ceiling warehouse space

63 acres of outside storage

114 additional acres available

2 miles of unloading track

2.5 miles of graveled roadway

24-hour security