'Disappearing landmarks': The historical significance behind Sask. grain elevators
As grain elevators are brought down across the province, some are taking the time to remember the significance of the structures and their place on the prairie landscape.
Kurtis Kocay is a farmer in Saskatchewan, dealing a lot with grain shipments. He has met a lot of older farmers who reminisce about the chit chat that would go on at these elevators back in the day.
Now, he says those same farmers are watching them get torn down. The Meecham elevator was recently torn down.
“When these structures go down, its very sad. I’ve seen it before in our local town, they cried. It’s a very big loss for them,” Kocay said.
“They’re just kind of neat, they’re like a lighthouse of the prairies. The uniqueness of how they’re built out of wood and stuff. It’s sad how they are disappearing landmarks.”
Kocay said several factors came into play over the years to make the elevators obsolete.
“They open up these new large concrete terminals that are able to produce and turn over more tons and serve a larger, wider area.
“Between production-wise and railway capabilities, now they can spot 100-150 car trains. These old ones can hold only 10-15 car spots,” Kocay said.
As these elevators become less and less important, Kocay said many were left to sit and over the years they have begun to wear down to a point where many have to be demolished.
“Usually they get abandoned and usually no one wants to take them over. Farmers nowadays have storage capacity on their farms the size of these old elevators,”
“They kind of become a liability, falling apart, not maintained and cared for. That’s where a lot of the choices are to demolish them and get rid of them, which is sad.”
THE RISE OF GRAIN ELEVATORS
Bill Waiser, a local historian and author, said the elevators once served a big purpose in the province.
Without them, early farming would have been a lot more difficult.
“Farmers couldn’t haul their grain more than 10 miles to a delivery point or it wasn’t economical. You’ve got the building of branch lines, and along the branch line you’ve got a system of elevators along the line, that’s where the term ‘line elevators’ came from,” Waiser said.
Waiser said initially only a handful of companies owned the elevators, leading to a monopoly that saw grain price fixes.
“There were about 1,000 of them by the start of The Great War. Farmers constantly complain that they felt cheated by these elevators by the monopoly they had,” Waiser said.
“They established what was called the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company. Farmers came together and pooled their resources with provincial help and bought their own elevators, farmer bought, farmer owned.”
For years after that the elevators were a staple in the agricultural industry, up until the 1950s when farms got bigger and the elevators began to lose some of their usefulness when larger concrete grain terminals began being used.
PRESERVING THE PAST
As the elevators phased out of regular farm use, they still served a purpose to people like Jack Robson, who has spent more than 20 years travelling around to take pictures of the structures, and in the past year he has decided to turn his hobby into a book.
“We started taking pictures, elevators, churches etc. But the elevators were always part and parcel a part of our lives, for a Canadian farm boy. They are pretty important,” Robson said.
Robson is working on a book with 1,200 pictures of 1,140 elevators in the province, his attempt at preserving this piece of Saskatchewan’s history.
“They were the tallest points in the Saskatchewan. They were identifiable for miles and miles and they identified there was a town there,” Robson said.
“We were agricultural. Everyone’s money was made hauling grain to those local elevators. In those elevators, there was meetings, there was coffee time. An awful lot of chit chat.”
The book will be sold at $100 to those who request it directly through Robson.
He can be reached at 306-365-2004.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Toxic forever chemicals in drinking water: Is Canada doing enough?
As the United States sets its first national limits on toxic forever chemicals in drinking water, researchers say Canada is lagging when it comes to regulations.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Arrest made, manslaughter charge pending in 2022 death of Calgary toddler
Calgary police have arrested a man and a charge is pending in connection with the death of a toddler in 2022.
How to avoid the trap of becoming 'house poor'
The journey to home ownership can be exciting, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew warns about the trappings of becoming 'house poor' -- where an overwhelming portion of your income is devoured by housing costs. Liew offers some practical strategies to maintain better financial health while owning a home.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
When new leaders took over in ancient Maya, they didn't just bury the former royals. They burned their bodies in public
New archeological investigations in Guatemala reveal that the ancient Maya people had a ritual of burning royal human remains as a public display of political regime change.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson Airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Prince William returns to public duties after wife Kate's cancer revelation
Prince William will return to public duties on Thursday for the first time since his wife Kate revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
Russia reports downing 5 Ukrainian military balloons in Kyiv's latest apparent war innovation
Russian air defences downed what authorities described as five Ukrainian balloons overnight, the defence ministry in Moscow said Thursday, as the sides kept up long-range strikes that have featured heavily in what has largely become a war of attrition.