A 40,000-bushel elevator at Rathwell was built in 1928 by Manitoba Pool Elevators for a local co-operative association. In the early 1950s, an annex increased its storage capacity to 55,700 bushels then another annex in 1968 increased it to 117,800 bushels. In this photo from 1964, we see the Pool with its single annex, with UGG and Paterson elevators in the background. The Pool facility was traded to United Grain Growers in 1990. Closed around 2000, both former UGG elevators were demolished by Agricore United in 2001.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
A 30,000-bushel elevator in Moore Park, in what is now the RM of Minto-Odanah on the former CPR Varcoe Subdivision, was built in 1929 by Manitoba Pool for a local association. It closed in July 1978 when the rail line was abandoned. By the time this photo was taken in July 1989 by Brandon University geographer John Everitt, the elevator had been vacant for years. Gone was a balloon annex from 1951 that had doubled its capacity. Also gone was a second, smaller elevator that stood behind this one. Built in 1905 by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, it was acquired by Pool in 1960 as its “B” elevator. It closed in July 1978 too and was demolished in 1981. The Pool “A” elevator stood until at least the mid-1990s but has been removed from the site.
Photo: S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
Altamont, in the RM of Lorne, was served by three elevators when this photo was taken in 1962. The right one was the oldest, built in 1905 by Ogilvie Flour Mills and sold to United Grain Growers in 1960. It was sold and torn down in 1967. The UGG elevator beside it dated from 1925, replacing an earlier elevator built in the early 20th century by the Dominion Elevator Company. Closed in 1993, it was demolished the following year. The left-most elevator, near the railway station, was constructed in 1932 by Federal Grain. Sold to Manitoba Pool in 1989, it was demolished sometime between 1995 and 1997. A monument in town commemorates the elevators and the men who operated them through the years.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
An elevator at Makinak, southeast of Dauphin in the Rural Municipality of Lakeshore, was constructed in 1957. A former elevator at the site was converted into an annex at that time. A new crib annex was built in 1969 and the earlier one was demolished in 1987, when three steel tanks were constructed beside the elevator. Renovations occurred in 1971, 1979, and 1987. Closed around 2000 but well maintained and still served by a railway siding, the elevator is used for private grain storage.
Photo: Jean McManus
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 elevator each week 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.
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 interested in hearing all sorts of experiences about the elevators — funny, sad, or anything in between. Readers willing to share their stories can leave messages at 204-474-7469.
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