Miami June 25, 2000
In the summer of 1946, Manitoba Pool built this elevator at Miami, opening it officially on August 22, 1946. The former Federal Grain #1 elevator, built nearby in 1927 by Wiley Low (and bought by Federal in 1932), was moved to its east side in 1974 and converted into an annex. The elevator was fully renovated in 1988 and two steel bins were built on its west side. Closed by Agricore around 2001, the elevator was demolished in 2003.
Photo: George Penner
FredensthalWestPool-
An elevator at the railway siding of Fredensthal West, on the CPR line three miles northeast of Emerson, was formerly operated by the Manitoba Pool. Built over the spring and summer of 1952 at Fredensthal, on the CNR Ridgeville Subdivision, a crib annex was built beside it in 1955. The elevator was moved to its present site, about four miles away, in 1980 and three steel tanks were added on its south side in mid-1992. Closed by Agricore United in 2002, the complex is now used for private grain storage by a local Hutterite colony.
Photo: Manitoba Historic Resources Branch
SandyLake Pool-
A 156,000-bushel elevator at Sandy Lake was built by Manitoba Pool in 1953 and an attached crib annex dates from 1967. Extensively renovated in 1986, as seen in this photo by Brandon photographer Lawrence Stuckey, Pool B was closed in April 1996, due to abandonment of the CNR’s Rossburn line, and sold into private hands. It continues in use for local grain storage.
Photo: Stuckey Collections, S.J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
ArborgRow-
This photo from the early 1980s shows two of the five elevators at Arborg at that time. The northernmost one, seen at left, was built by Paterson Grain in 1967, with a crib annex added in 1973. Moving southward were four owned by Manitoba Pool, lettered A (seen here), B, C (owned by Searle and Federal before Pool), and D. Pool A was built in 1948, the company’s second elevator here, after which the former Pool A became Pool B. Finally, composite elevator Pool D was built on the south side of town in 1981. The Paterson, now an off-track facility, is the only one left.
Photo: University of Manitoba Archives and 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.
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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 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.
