X. C. Hadford Company (1950–2001) Ogilvie Flour Mills (1929–2000) Ellison Milling & Flour Co. (1939–2000) Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company (1913-2014) Alberta Wheat Pool (1951-2014) Alberta Pool elevator (1928-2014)
A grain elevator is an agrarian facility complex designed to stockpile or store grain. In grain trade, the term grain elevator also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits it in a silo or other storage facility.
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), also known formerly as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, and known as simply Canadian Pacific is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The 2017 census estimate put the population at 58,638. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County and has a population of 82,278. Great Falls was the largest city in Montana from 1950 to 1970, when Billings surpassed it. Great Falls remained the second largest city in Montana until 2000, when it was passed by Missoula. Since then Great Falls has been the third largest city in the state.
Alberta Farmers Co-operative elevator, built in 1913 before Alberta Wheat Pool takeover (photo circa 1920)
Many once-common wood-crib grain elevators in Western Canada have been torn down. Warner has four elevators, and the Inglis elevator row in Manitoba has five. Warner's elevators are not protected.[4] In 2014, two of the elevators were demolished.[2]
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and more commonly known as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. British Columbia is culturally, economically, geographically, and politically distinct from the other parts of Western Canada and is often referred to as the "west coast" or "Pacific Canada", while Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are grouped together as the Prairie Provinces and most commonly known as "The Prairies".
Inglis is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district located in the Rural Municipality of Riding Mountain West, Manitoba, Canada, on Provincial Road 366 approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Hwy 83 between Russell and Roblin. Inglis is the closest community to the Asessippi Ski Area and the Lake of the Prairies. It is the home of the Inglis Grain Elevators, a National Historic Site of Canada.
Before 1911, Warner had two elevators: one a 30,000 imperial bushels (1,100m3) house built by the Alberta Pacific Elevator Company, and the other a 25,000 imperial bushels (910m3) elevator built by Jones and Dill. In 1913, the first elevator in the remaining group was built by the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company.[5] The structure and history of each elevator was influenced by developments in the grain industry and its companies from before World War II to the 1980s.
The Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company (AFCEC) was a farmer-owned enterprise that provided grain storage and handling services to farmers in Alberta, Canada between 1913 and 1917, when it was merged with the Manitoba-based Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) to form the United Grain Growers (UGG).
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
The Warner elevators date from 1913 to 1960. The row included an early example of the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company design and examples of complex component arrangements: elevator and twin, elevator and annexes and original and replacement offices. The 1939 elevator built by the Ellison Milling and Elevator Company is an architecturally-significant example of an essentially-unchanged 1940s complex consisting of an elevator, two balloon annexes and a track-side office and warehouse (usually from an earlier period). A small number of late-1930s elevators remain in Alberta, a reminder that few were built for some time after 1934. This elevator was demolished in the early 2000s. The Warner elevator row is included in Jim Pearson's book, Grain Elevators of Eastern Saskatchewan.[6]
Grain elevators
With the exception of the United Grain Growers elevator, Warner's elevators were little-modified and several have small scales and air dumps on site. The first elevator was built in 1911, when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Warner.[3]
The United Grain Growers, or UGG, was a Canadian grain farmers' cooperative for grain storage and distribution that operated between 1917 and 2001.
Pneumatics is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
2009 panorama of the row, with six elevators standing
Demolitions
From 1999 to 2014, 5 elevators were demolished, bringing the total elevator count down to 4.
History
134,000-imperial-bushel (4,900m) United Grain Growers elevator, built in 1960
The United Grain Growers elevator and annex were built between 1957 and 1960, and the complex was licensed for 134,000 imperial bushels (4,900m3) in 1960. It was UGG's second elevator at Warner; the first was sold to Alberta Pool Elevators in 1928. The elevator was upgraded during the late 1980s, including the installation of a new leg which required raising part of the cupola; the metal bin annexes on the south side and drag auger date from that time. A cyclone dust collector and truck-loading spout have been installed, and a roofed track-side warehouse on the north side was probably built at the same time as the elevator.
In architecture, a cupola is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
A demolished 1950 elevator built by X. C. Hadford Company was licensed as a 15,000-imperial-bushel (550m3) seed elevator in 1952. In 1992, it was licensed as a 240-tonne primary elevator.
1913 Alberta Farmers Co-operative elevator in early 2010
The 35,000-imperial-bushel (1,300m3), 31×42×65 feet (9.4×12.8×19.8m) Alberta Farmers' Co-operative elevator was built in 1913. Before its demolition, it was one of the two oldest examples of standard Alberta Farmers' Elevator Company 1913–1917 design. It had a pyramidal roof, with a gable-roofed cupola housing the head of the leg. Archival photographs of other Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company facilities suggest that this elevator originally had a track-side office and warehouse next to the elevator.
In 1913, the United Farmers of Alberta proposed the establishment of the Alberta Farmers' Elevator Company as a solution to producer problems in the province. Shares were issued to farmers at $60 each, payable in four annual installments. The Alberta government provided loans of 85 percent of the share sum. To market their grain and guarantee their loans during rapid wartime expansion, the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company relied on the experience of the Grain Growers Grain Company of Manitoba. In 1917 the companies merged to form the United Grain Growers, headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Two views of demolished 1913 Co-operative elevator, twinned with an Alberta Wheat Pool elevator in 1951
In 1928 the UGG sold their 1913 Warner elevator to the Alberta Pool Elevator Company. A coal shed associated with the elevator since 1926 was sold in 1940 and removed from the site. In 1940 a 35,000-imperial-bushel (1,300m3) balloon annex, built by the F. W. McDougall Construction Company, was added to the elevator and later removed. In 1951, the elevator was twinned with a new 38×42×65 feet (12×13×20m), 60,000-imperial-bushel (2,200m3) elevator built by the pool; a new driveway was also built at this time. Both elevators have been demolished.
Road- and track-side views of 1928 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator
The 1928 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator was built by Voss Bros for the Alberta Pool Elevator Company in accordance with the standard 40,000-imperial-bushel (1,500m3) plan at a cost of $15,300. It measured 34×35×62 feet (10×11×19m); a balloon annex built on the south side in 1940 was removed in 1995. The elevator has been demolished.
A 45,000-imperial-bushel (1,600m3) elevator was built in 1918 by the Alberta Pacific Grain Company, replacing a pre-1911 Alberta Pacific Elevator Company structure. It may have had an annex, since it was licensed in 1918 for 60,000 imperial bushels (2,200m3) and for 45,000 imperial bushels (1,600m3) in 1922. In 1953 a 23,000-imperial-bushel (840m3) annex (removed in 1997) was attached to the elevator's north side, and a second annex was added six years later. In 1967, the elevator was taken over by Federal Grain; the following year Federal built a new elevator, twinning it with the 1918 structure and moving the 1959 annex to the south side of the new elevator. A driveway the length of both elevators was also built at this time. In 1972 the complex was sold to Alberta Wheat Pool, and in the summer of 1997 it was the AWP No. 4 house.
1918 Alberta Pacific elevator (right) and 1968 Federal Grain elevator
The 1968 65,000-imperial-bushel (2,400m3) Federal Grain elevator measures 38×44×66 feet (12×13×20m), with an electronic scale and an exterior loading spout for trucks. It was among the last elevators built according to the traditional design, before the single composite design came into widespread use.
A 35,000-imperial-bushel (1,300m3) elevator was built by Ogilvie Flour Mills in 1929. A 30,000-imperial-bushel (1,100m3) balloon annex was added in 1940, followed by a 25,000-imperial-bushel (910m3) annex twelve years later. One annex was removed in 1997, and the elevator has been demolished.
A 40,000-imperial-bushel (1,500m3) elevator was built by the Ellison Milling and Flour Company in 1939, with annexes probably built during World War II as temporary storage. In 1974 it was sold to Parrish & Heimbecker, and to UGG in 1985. The elevator has been demolished.
Related Research Articles
John Edward Brownlee, was the fifth Premier of Alberta, Canada, serving from 1925 until 1934. Born in Port Ryerse, Ontario, he studied history and political science at the University of Toronto's Victoria College before moving west to Calgary to become a lawyer. His clients included the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA); through his connection with that lobby group, he was involved in founding the United Grain Growers (UGG).
Agricore United was a farmer-directed agribusiness in Canada. It supplied crop nutrition and crop protection products, and offered grain handling and marketing services. It was created on November 1, 2001 by the merger of Agricore and United Grain Growers. It was headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its shares were publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "AU" until June 15, 2007, when it was taken over by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) had a 28% stake in the company at the time of the takeover.
The Alberta Wheat Pool was the first of Canada's wheat farmer co-operatives in 1923.
The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricultural grain handling operation in the province of Saskatchewan. Before becoming Viterra, SWP had operated 276 retail outlets and more than 100 grain handling and marketing centres. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool operated under the name of AgPro in the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Alberta. Begun as a co-operative in the 1920s, the company became a publicly traded corporation in the 1990s. After the 2007 takeover of its competitor, Winnipeg-based Agricore United, the Pool name was retired. The merged company operated under the name Viterra until 2013, when it was acquired by Glencore International.
A wheat pool is a co-operative that markets grain on behalf of its farmer-members.
Raley, Alberta is an unincorporated community in Cardston County, Alberta, Canada. The population of Raley was 5 in 1966. The community is located about 4 km north of Highway 3, and about 15 km east of the Town of Cardston. Raley is named after C. Raley, of Lethbridge.
Travers is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada within Vulcan County. It is located approximately 59 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of Highway 1 and 59 kilometres (37 mi) southwest of Brooks.
The Inglis elevator row is a row of five wooden grain elevators located alongside the former Canadian Pacific Railway track bed, in the village of Inglis, Manitoba, Canada. Because so many traditional country elevators have been demolished throughout Western Canada, the Inglis elevator row preserves rare examples of a formerly common sight from "the golden age of grain". In recognition of the elevators in Inglis being the last elevator row in Canada, they have been fully restored and protected as a National Historic Site of Canada.
Legend is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada within the County of Forty Mile No. 8. It is located along Highway 61 between Range Road 125 and Range Road 130, in southeast Alberta. It is one of many ghost towns along the historic Red Coat Trail route.
The Cargill Pool Elevator is a grain storage facility in Buffalo harbor built in the 1920s and previously named the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator. The elevator is the only grain elevator located on Buffalo's outer harbor.
The Manitoba Grain Growers' Association (MGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Manitoba, Canada in the first two decades of the 20th century. It provided a voice for farmers in their struggle with grain dealers and the railways, and was influential in obtaining favorable legislation. The MGGA supported the Grain Growers' Grain Company, a cooperative of prairie farmers, and its organ the Grain Growers' Guide. At first it remained neutral politically, but in 1920 it restructured as the United Farmers of Manitoba in preparation for becoming a political party.
The Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association (SGGA) was a farmer's association that was active in Saskatchewan, Canada in the early 20th century. It was a successor to the Territorial Grain Growers' Association, and was formed in 1906 after Saskatchewan became a province. It provided a voice for farmers in their struggle with grain dealers and the railways, and was influential in obtaining favorable legislation. The association initially resisted calls to create a farmer-owned marketing company. Later it did support formation of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company. The SGGA helped the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, a cooperative marketing organization, to become established in 1924. In 1926 the SGGA merged with the more radical Farmers' Union of Canada, which had earlier split from the SGGA, to create the United Farmers of Canada,
Edward Alexander Partridge was a Canadian teacher, farmer, agrarian radical, businessman and author. He was born in Ontario but moved to Saskatchewan where he taught and then became a farmer. He was active in the Territorial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA), founded in 1902, which addressed various problems with the Western Canada grain market. He founded the cooperative Grain Growers' Grain Company, the predecessor of the United Grain Growers, and the Grain Growers' Guide, a widely distributed weekly paper. His "Partridge Plan" was a broad and visionary proposal for addressing a wide range of farmers' issues, eliminating many abuses caused by the near-monopoly of grain elevator companies, and resulted in important reforms by the provincial governments. Patridge was named a National Historic Person in 2018.
The Grain Growers' Guide was a newspaper published by the Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) in Western Canada for grain farmers between 1908 and 1936. It reflected the views of the grain growers' associations. In its day it had the highest circulation of any farm paper in the region.
The Grain Growers' Grain Company (GGGC) was a farmers' cooperative founded in the prairie provinces of western Canada in 1906. The GGGC met strong resistance from existing grain dealers. It was forced off the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and almost failed. With help from the Manitoba government it regained its seat on the exchange, and soon had a profitable grain trading business. The company founded the Grain Growers' Guide, which became the most popular farmer's newspaper in the region. In 1912 the GGGC began operating inland and terminal grain elevators, and in 1913 moved into the farm supply business. The GGGC was financially secure and owned or operated almost 200 elevators as well as 122 coals sheds and 145 warehouses by the time it merged with the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company to form the United Grain Growers in 1917.
The Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company (SCEC) was a farmer-owned enterprise that provided grain storage and handling services to farmers in Saskatchewan, Canada between 1911 and 1926, when its assets were purchased by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
