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A grain elevator at the former CPR railway siding of Cameron (named for Melita implements dealer A. E. Cameron, in the RM of Two Borders, was built by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company sometime between 1902 and 1910. It became part of Ogilvie Milling after the two companies merged in 1954 and was purchased by Manitoba Pool in 1959. The 38,000-bushel elevator was closed around 1970 and sold into private hands. It now stands abandoned, surrounded by cropland.
Photo: Gordon Goldsborough (July 2016)
isabella-pool-this-old-elevator
The shorter of two elevators in Isabella, in the RM of Prairie View, was built in 1910 by the Western Canada Flour Milling Company and sold to Manitoba Pool in 1939. The taller elevator was constructed in 1913 by the Grain Growers’ Grain Company (later UGG) and operated until 1962 when it was traded to the Pool. The elevators were some distance apart but Pool moved the former UGG elevator next to its elevator and built a common driveshed between them. They closed in December 1978 as the adjacent CNR line was abandoned. Sold to a local farmer and used for grain storage into the 1990s, they are now in poor structural condition.
Photo: Gordon Goldsborough (August 2016)
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A 185,000-bushel grain elevator at Burnside Siding, on the CPR Carberry Subdivision near the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway and the Yellowhead Highway in the RM of Portage la Prairie, was built in early 1984 by Manitoba Pool. Seen here in 2007, it was demolished in 2008, after just 24 years of service.
Photo: Bernie Freeman
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A 50,000-bushel grain elevator at Coulter, on the CPR Lyleton Subdivision in the RM of Two Borders, with its associated crib annex and engine shed, was once operated by Manitoba Pool. Built in 1928, it closed in July 1971. Rail service ceased when a bridge was washed out during a severe storm and was not replaced. The elevator was purchased by a local farmer and used for private grain storage. This photo was taken in July 2016.
Photo: Gordon Goldsborough
In the 1950s, there were over 700 grain elevators in Manitoba. Today, there are fewer than 200. You can help to preserve the legacy of these disappearing “Prairie sentinels.”
The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) is gathering information about all elevators that ever stood in Manitoba, regardless of their present status. Collaborating with the Manitoba Co-operator it is supplying these images of a grain elevators in hopes readers will be able to tell the society more about it, or any other elevator they know of.
MHS Gordon Goldsborough webmaster and Journal editor has developed a website to post your replies to a series of questions about elevators. The MHS is interested in all grain elevators that have served the farm community.
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Your contributions will help gather historical information such as present status of elevators, names of companies, owners and agents, rail lines, year elevators were built — and dates when they were torn down (if applicable).
There is room on the website to post personal recollections and stories related to grain elevators. The MHS presently also has only a partial list of all elevators that have been demolished. You can help by updating that list if you know of one not included on that list.
Your contributions are greatly appreciated and will help the MHS develop a comprehensive, searchable database to preserve the farm community’s collective knowledge of what was once a vast network of grain elevators across Manitoba.
Please contribute to This Old Grain Elevator website here.
You will receive a response, by email or phone call, confirming that your submission was received.
Goldsborough is especially interested in determining when elevators were demolished. Readers with photos of elevator demolitions and dates of when these occurred can contact him directly at [email protected] or call 204-782-8829.
