At the time of this 1964 photo, there were two elevators at Mather. The Manitoba Pool elevator at left was built in 1926. The balloon annexes on each side of it were replaced in 1969 by a single crib annex. Renovated in 1971 and 1986, it closed on December 31, 1996 and was demolished. The United Grain Growers elevator at right dated from 1917. A 1971 trade saw it become Manitoba Pool’s B elevator for five years, closing in 1976.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
An elevator at Dugald was built in 1948 by Ogilvie Flour Mills to replace one destroyed by a devastating fire during the night of September 1, 1947. The fire started when a westbound passenger train collided with an eastbound train discharging passengers at the Dugald station. Sold to Manitoba Pool in 1959, a crib annex was built beside the elevator in 1960. The facility was fully renovated in 1985 and three steel tanks were added in 1988. The facility was sold into private ownership by Agricore in late 2001.
Photo: Gordon Goldsborough
At the time this photo was taken in February 1988, two generations of elevators stood at McAuley. On the right was the original 30,000-bushel elevator, built by Manitoba Pool in 1928. The 30,000-bushel crib annex beside it dated from 1956. The 50,000-bushel elevator at left was built in 1968 and the old elevator was turned into a second annex. Renovated in 1985, the facility was badly damaged by strong winds in August 1995. Despite a public campaign to save it, the elevator was closed and later demolished.
Photo: John Everitt Collection, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
This elevator at Kaleida was built in 1905 for a group of local farmers and sold two years later to Ogilvie Flour Mills. By 1959, when it was sold to Manitoba Pool and became its B elevator, the original 25,000-bushel capacity had increased to 70,000 bushels with an adjoining annex. Once served by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the line was abandoned in mid-1962 and the elevator closed in July 1963. Sold to private ownership, it was used for several years as a seed-cleaning plant. Now standing idle, it is one of the oldest survivors in the province.
Photo: Ken Jacobs
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.
Comments