Croll Pool_gc.jpg
An elevator at Croll, on the CPR line about nine miles northwest of Boissevain, was operated by the Croll Cooperative Elevator Association as part of the Manitoba Pool network. An original 50,000-bushel elevator, built in 1930 to replace an elevator destroyed by fire, was joined by a 30,000-bushel elevator in 1940. Designated A and B respectively, they were merged into a single 80,000-bushel facility around 1952. Seen here in May 1972, the elevator was closed in December 1974, after the railway line was abandoned, and demolished in October 1976.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
Durban Pool_CMYK.jpg
A 166,000-bushel elevator at Durban, on the CNR line in what is now the Municipality of Swan Valley West, was built in 1966 by Manitoba Pool Elevators to replace an older elevator dating back to 1925. The elevator was destroyed by lightning on June 15, 1995 but was not replaced. The Cargill elevator in the background, bought from National Grain in 1975, was closed in 2000 and demolished the following year. It was the last elevator at Durban.
Photo: Manitoba Pool Collection, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
Bergen Pool.jpg
A 63,400-bushel wooden grain elevator at the CPR siding of Bergen, on the outskirts of Winnipeg in the RM of Rosser, was constructed in 1965 by Federal Grain. A crib annex was built beside it in the fall of 1970, increasing its capacity to 153,400 bushels. The annex caught fire shortly after its construction but the staff managed to put it out. Sold to Manitoba Pool in 1972, the elevator was closed in late 1987 and demolished in October 1988, having had one agent, Rene Monchalin, for all but a few months of its operation.
Photo: S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
Fannystelle_cmyk.jpg
We see three elevators in this 1972 view of Fannystelle, all now gone. At left is Manitoba Pool with two annexes. Built in 1929, the balloon annex (left) dates from 1950 and a crib annex (right) was added in 1958. The smaller elevator in the middle was built in 1927 by Canadian Consolidated Grain, sold to UGG in 1959, closed in 1980, and removed in 1981. The small balloon annex (right) was built in 1949 and a crib annex (left) came in 1958. In 1970, the crib annex was moved beside the UGG elevator at right, which dates from 1940, built by Paterson Grain. Expanded in 1950 with a crib annex using materials salvaged from Dipple Siding, it was sold to UGG in 1968. UGG traded for the Pool in 1990 and closed both elevators that year when it opened a large concrete elevator nearby.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
beausejour-pool-manitoba-archives
Beausejour had three wooden elevators (or four, depending how you count) when this photo was taken in 1962. The nearest was Pool B, built for Lake of the Woods Milling and sold to Manitoba Pool in 1959. Closed in 1994, it was demolished in 2002. One (or two) elevators in the middle shared a common driveshed. The older, smaller elevator was built in 1921 for the Dominion Elevator Company and was bought by UGG in 1959. The second, larger elevator was moved here by UGG. Both were closed in 1996 and demolished. At the far end was Pool A, dating from 1954 and modernized in 1981. The last to go, it was demolished in 2012. Beausejour will regain an elevator when the former Pool elevator at nearby Tyndall is moved to the local museum in 2020.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
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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