Inside 1 of America's biggest wool warehouses

...But in a small town known as the geographic center of the nation; a bit of a surprise, one of the largest wool warehouses in America, in a place where sheep play second fiddle. We take a look inside a place, many have never even heard of, "Along the Way", in the Northern Hills. A long metal warehouse hugs the train tracks, a loading area reads "Wool", and even in it's quiet hometown, this economic engine runs more like a whisper. Larry Prager has worked here for nearly 4 decades.  Center of the Nation Wool is a bit like a Pandora's Box, with numbers that are darn near startling to hear. Larry Prager, CEO of Center of the Nation Wool, Inc. says, "United States produces about 25 million pounds of wool a year. And through our doors we'll market between 4 and a half and 5 million pounds. So we're handling roughly 20 percent of the wool produced in the United States is local to this region." That is a whole lot of wool. And this warehouse operates with just 6 employees. You won't see any sheep here, they're sheared at the producers ranches. What you will see is stack after stack of white nylon wrapped bales, each filled with the wool of 40-50 animals. Larry Prager says, "Typically our bales weigh 400 maybe 500 pounds" Too heavy to carry, they're carted around by forklifts. These bales come in from about 1500 wool operations from several surrounding states. Prager says, each sheep produces about 10 pounds of wool, earning roughly $2 a pound, or $20 bucks per animal for the rancher...more