A 40,000-bushel wooden grain elevator at Elma, on the CNR Minaki Subdivision in the Rural Municipality of Whitemouth, was constructed in 1950 by the Canadian Consolidated Grain Company and sold to United Grain Growers in 1959. Described by UGG as being “from the beginning a low-volume grain point,” it was closed in March 1964 and moved to Whitemouth where it was converted into an annex for the elevator there that had also been bought from Canadian Consolidated. The facility was closed in July 1979 and later demolished.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
A 40,000-bushel wooden grain elevator at the railway siding of Graham, on the CPR Carman Subdivision in the Rural Municipality of Roland, was built in 1927 by Manitoba Pool Elevators. Closed in July 1971, the railway was abandoned in November 1975. No vestige of the railway tracks, elevator, agent’s residence, or access roads remain at the site in the middle of an agricultural field. This aerial view was provided by Doreen Smith whose husband Ralph was its agent from the mid-1940s to 1961.
Photo: Courtesy: Doreen Smith
The first grain elevator in McConnell was built by J. H. McConnell and sold to the Canadian Elevator Company. Between 1926 and 1927, it was taken over by McConnell Cooperative Elevator Association. In 1928, the old elevator was demolished and a new one was constructed on the same site. A balloon annex was built beside it in 1940. Major renovations in 1968 included construction of a new driveway and office, and installation of a 40-ton scale. The final grain delivery occurred on December 16, 1978, the same day as the final train passed through town. The tracks were removed in May 1979 and the elevator was sold to a local farmer.
Photo: Gordon Goldsborough
A 30,000-bushel wooden grain elevator in Kirkella was built in 1923 by the Matheson-Lindsay Grain Company, founded by W. J. Lindsay, a former partner of W. L. Parrish of Parrish & Heimbecker. It was sold in 1928 to the Province Elevator Company and successively to the Canadian Consolidated Grain Company (1929), United Grain Growers (1959), and Manitoba Pool (1960). Renovated in 1965 and 1975, a 60,000-bushel crib annex was built beside it in 1969. The elevator was demolished in 2002.
Photo: Manitoba Historic Resources Branch
In 1951, United Grain Growers constructed a 35,000-bushel wooden grain elevator at the Cawdor siding on the CNR Oakland Subdivision, near the Whitemud River in what is now the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone. Grain volumes shipped from the elevator did not meet the company’s expectations so, in 1964, it was moved to Westbourne, the first time that a UGG elevator was moved intact rather than being demolished and rebuilt.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
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.
Comments