This Sask. town was once the site of North America's largest barn

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, R-A 12952

Tucked between Saskatchewan’s two main corridor highways, a stone’s throw from the Alberta border, you wouldn’t necessarily think of the town of Leader as an epicentre of industry.

But over 100 years ago, this unassuming community of German settlers was the site of North America’s largest barn — the short-lived legacy of an eccentric immigrant from Kentucky with a penchant for living large.

Built by William Theodore Smith along the South Saskatchewan River near Leader in 1914, the barn was 400 feet long, 128 feet wide and 60 feet high, according to records from the provincial archives.

A passage from the town’s local history book says that when Smith travelled to Regina to secure supplies for “the biggest barn ever built on the North American continent,” some thought it was a put-on.

“When Smith stated he needed a railway carload of nails the wholesaler thought he was joking and did not bother to fill the order.”

It took nearly one million feet of lumber, 30,000 sacks of cement and 60,000 square feet of corrugated galvanized roofing to assemble, according to the provincial archive record.

“Smith always did things on a big scale,” Leader’s local historian writes.

(Courtesy: Town of Leader)

Smith established the ranch around 1868 after travelling west from Manitoba in a covered wagon looking for land near a lake or river.

Through a combination of ambition, credit and government policy granting huge swaths of First Nations territory to incoming settlers — Smith’s operation grew from a homestead ranch with about 400 horses to a 10,000-acre operation with 2,000 horses, 1,600 mules and 10,000 sheep.

Using his livestock as collateral, Smith secured a loan of $82,000 in Maple Creek to pay for the construction. Leader’s historian writes that Smith put the cash in a gunny sack, threw it under the seat of his wagon and headed home.

When it opened, it may also have been the site of the continent’s largest barn dance at the time, the historian says.

“It took two orchestras to provide the music in the huge loft, which was nearly as long as a city block. The cooks had been busy for days providing the food.”

Smith reportedly employed a massive staff at his ranch — up to 140 people with a monthly payroll of up to $7,000.

Unfortunately, Smith did not live long after the construction of his monument. Shortly after its completion, he became ill. He died in 1918 at 73-years-old.

According to the Saskatchewan Archives record on the barn, it was dismantled in 1920 after Smith’s estate settled and his assets were auctioned off. Some of the lumber was sold to merchants building in towns along the nearby CP rail line.

Now, all that remains are remnants of the building’s foundation and a model of the structure that sits in the centre of town.

Leader is located nearly 300 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.