Editorial: Opening up

The non-farming public, especially in Western Canada, continues to be interested in agriculture and rural life. Evidence of that can be seen in a pair of features in this week’s issue of the Co-operator. In the Country Crossroads section, our Lorraine Stevenson writes about the Argyle fall supper, celebrating its 135th anniversary this year. Every fall,

Manitoba First Nations agricultural history isn’t well known.

Manitoba’s earliest agriculture

Canada 150: First Nations, fur traders and the Selkirk settlers all grew 
some of the earliest harvests in Manitoba

As part of our celebration of Canada 150, the Manitoba Agricultural Museum’s Alex Campbell has written a historical review of agriculture in Manitoba. The Manitoba Co-operator will be printing it as an ongoing serial over the next several weeks. While Canada dates from 1867, the history of agriculture in Manitoba stretches much further back into


A wooden grain elevator at the railway siding of Newstead, five miles east of Souris along Highway No. 2, was built in 1936 by the McCabe Grain Company. Bought by United Grain Growers in 1968, the elevator was renovated and an annex was moved beside it from nearby Carroll. The facility was closed in June 1982 and removed from the site.

PHOTOS: This Old Elevator: November 2016

The Manitoba Historical Society wants to gather information about all the grain elevators in Manitoba

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

The former Manitoba Pool elevator in Homewood still shows the spot where the sign once hung.

Brandon University to save MPE archives

The treasure trove of historical documents are being ordered and catalogued


A huge collection documenting the entire history of Manitoba Pool Elevators is being put in order through a project at Brandon University’s (BU) S.J. McKee Archives. Work began this fall to organize textual records in the large volume of documents known by archivists as fonds, but there’s much more work to process a huge volume