Assiniboia, Saskatchewan

On our recent travels to Saskatchewan we drove south of Regina, stopped at the Big Muddy Badlands to see Castle Butte, and stayed overnight in Assiniboia. Even though I was born and raised in Saskatchewan I still marvel at the wide open areas in this part of the province. The joke about being able to watch your dog run away from home over the period of a few days comes to mind. We got the impression that time has stood still here in many ways, even though the farm equipment is modern and the internet is available. Fascinating to visit, but not sure I'd want to live here. They still have a standing wooden grain elevator. We stayed in a motel just across the street from it. I took this photo as the sun was sinking in the western sky. Sunsets are often grand on the prairies. This time there were too many clouds but the sun peaked through enough to cast a pink light. It had rained quite a bit so I was able to take advantage of a puddle to reflect the name of the elevator.

Craik, SK

I haven't entered a new grain elevator photo for some time, mainly because we didn't get back to good old Saskatchewan for two years. We finally were in Saskatchewan this month and I managed to add eleven more elevators to my list. That makes about 125 photos of elevators from different locations. Today I'm adding the Craik elevator. I've included a link to Wiki to give the reader the size and location of this village. It's just off the Saskatoon to Regina highway. It's one of the few still standing.

Vanishing Elevators

I imagine there aren't many wooden grain elevators left standing in Saskatchewan these days. We haven't gone looking lately. I took this photo of Parkbeg elevator in 2009, just off the TransCanada Highway about 60 kms. west of Moose Jaw. I read a book by Walter Stewart recently, called "My Cross-Country Checkup" (2000). He and his wife travel across Canada as they did in the '60's and revisit places they did then and make comments. His comments re the vanishing elevators is particularly telling. To quote: "An inland grain terminal can store, on average, about ten times as much grain--wheat, canola, flax, soya beans, peas, whatever--as one of the wooden elevators. It is thus more efficient to operate. This efficiency can be increased by making the farmer truck his crops farther and farther to a few huge terminals, rather than allowing him to drive a few kilometres down the road to a local elevator, where he probably wastes time chatting with the operator or even, God forbid, drinking a cup of coffee.
Of course, the cost to the farmer for trucking goes up, and so does the cost of road maintenance, in direct proportion to the reduction in costs for the elevator firms and the railways, but these are not matters that concern the people who make the decisions....as long as the costs are borne mainly by the farmers, a less and less significant proportion of the voting population with every passing year, this is not an important consideration.
The same phenomenon that is wiping the elevators off the face of the prairie is observable in every sector of the agricultural economy." (pp. 189,190).

Too, too true!

River Ferries

One of the thrills I experienced while living on a farm in Saskatchewan was getting a ride across the Saskatchewan River on a ferry. At the time the roads were gravel so one had to drive carefully when descending to the river's edge to wait for the ferry. The river was narrow enough that one could see where the ferry was. If the ferry was on the other side and the operator saw you coming he would immediately start the ferry towards the other side to load you. The operator and his family lived in a house near the ferry as he had to be available during daylight hours to operate the ferry. I've included a photo I took of the ferry near Wingard, Saskatchewan a few years back. I still enjoy going on these ferries whenever I get a chance. If you click on the heading you'll be directed to some history of river ferries in Saskatchewan. I believe that the stats indicating the number of horses pulling vehicles indicates horse-drawn wagons, many of which I'm sure were hauling grain to the local elevators. Prairie elevators provided the "stations" to which many a farmer went and the river ferries provided access to the other side of the river for many a farmer who lived near the mighty Saskatchewan Rivers.

Asquith, SK

Asquith is a small village not too far from Saskatoon. By the looks of their website the elevators may no longer be standing. Can anyone confirm this? I've added some effects to my original photo of these elevators to give them a "ghostly" appearance. That may be very appropriate as most elevators are gone and remain only as memories, or ghosts of the past.

Holiday Greetings

Christmas is fast approaching and every year I make up a simple greeting using one of my elevator photos. I liked the bright red colour of this elevator I took of the Springside, Saskatchewan grain elevator. Red is associated with Santa's red suit, and many of the decorations are red or have red in them.
Merry Christmas everyone, and if you don't celebrate Christmas may you enjoy the festive period coming up, including New Year's which many celebrate on January 1.
Traditions are both comforting and cumbersome. Why not add spice to tradition and enjoy the moment.
I noticed that the link to Chris Attrell's grain elevator site had changed so I've updated it in "My Links". I hope this didn't frustrate too many of you.

Yorkton, Saskatchewan

Yorkton is a large centre on the Yellowhead highway that I used to drive to and through quite often when I lived and worked in Saskatchewan. The Pool elevators were a common sight across Saskatchewan. Unfortunately they went out of business in 2007 when they were bought out. The history of the Pool elevators is in Wikipedia, if you're interested.
I added some special effects using Photoshop to dress up this prairie icon. I took this photo in 2001, if I remember correctly.
Live long enough and many things come and go, as has been the case with Pool elevators.

Wakaw, Saskatchewan

I'm not sure any more if this grain elevator still stands. Perhaps someone from the area could let me know. In any case I've given the original photo a different look to show the colours and lines of these massive structures. Click on the title to go to Wakaw's web page. The story of the origin of Wakaw is of interest.
The history of prairie grain elevators is also interesting. Click here to find a great overview of grain elevators in western Canada. They do a nice job of describing the reason for the shape of grain elevators and how modern design is changing grain elevators.

Wet Prairies

When we left Saskatchewan to retire on the "wet coast" as it's sometimes called we were convinced that the prairies were about to go into an extended period of drought. We experienced many dust storms and saw grain crops that barely produced enough grain to make harvesting worth while. This year's been totally opposite. Constant rain and even some flooding is happening on the prairies in Canada. Farmers are hoping that they can get the crops off this fall. They could have bumper crops or as sometimes happens, frost could come early and wipe out the promising yield. Only time will tell. Who wants to be a farmer these days when the climate is so unpredictable?
I found this photo that I took a while back showing water right next to a ripening wheat field. I thought of the farmers this year when I came across it and decided to post it here. Whenever I take photos on the prairies I'm always been fascinated with water next to grain . It's likely due to the anxiety we used to experience on the farm when the grain was testing too humid during harvest. We had to stop and wait for nature to dry the grain. Otherwise we risked it overheating in the grain bins and catching fire, or at the very least, spoiling the whole bin full of precious grain.
The old buildings in this photo are also a reminder of different times when more farms existed and each farm was reasonably self-reliant. Mixed farms were common when I was a child. Now farmers tend to be grain farmers or cattle farmers. Specializing can be riskier when the one thing they're farming doesn't do well that year.

Prelate, SK

We drove through another small village, pop. 164, while travelling through part of Saskatchewan we hadn't seen before. This is the only elevator still standing in Prelate. If you click on the title you'll be directed to a book that's been placed online re the history of Prelate. I've linked the title to the first page regarding the history of the grain elevators. Very interesting history. It looks like they had five elevators there at one time. This book is a reminder of the decline of the rural communities because farms got bigger as machinery became larger and more efficient. Farmers than sold and moved to the nearest large towns or cities to retire or to work.

Leader, SK

Last month we drove through a part of Saskatchewan we hadn't visited before. I took this photo of the Leader elevator along with the sculpted Ord's Kangaroo Rats. Apparently these rats can leap up to 8 feet at once. Leader is the furthest north that they've been found.
It looks like this elevator is still being used. I've linked the heading to some information re Leader and area. We wanted to drive out to the Sandhills nearby but the roads were being repaired and it began to rain, again. Maybe another time.

Cudworth, Sk

I understand that this elevator is no longer standing. It's unfortunate how quickly these prairie icons are being torn down. They're just not economical, profit-wise, to leave them up. Maintenance upkeep and lack of use, due to the cement behemoths that are replacing them, is dooming most of them to being destroyed. It's less expensive to tear them down than keep them up. Some communities have managed to keep their elevators as museums but the owners (large corporations) make it difficult and expensive to do so. Nostalgia on my part? Perhaps. Sometimes it's hard to let go of what was an important part of our lives as we grew up. The wooden grain elevators is that for me.
(Click on the Title to read about Cudworth.)

Wooden windmills on the prairies

Even rarer, I'm sure, than wooden grain elevators are the wooden windmills that are still standing. This one is on my brother-in-law's farm north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It's in need of repair as the wooden slats are rotting and it's becoming structurally unsound. It's too bad as these also are icons of the prairies. Using wind power readily available on the wide open prairies was an energy efficient way of pumping water from the well for the water supply of the farm herds.
I have a few photos of windmills in Saskatchewan. Does anyone have a collection? Or know of one? I googled windmills and came up empty. I'll have to do some more searching as now I'm curious as to whether these memories of our past have been preserved.

Inventory of Existing Saskatchewan elevators

I just came across this list of existing grain elevators in Saskatchewan that was completed in July 2006. There are between 500 and 600 remaining. What I like about this list is that it gives the dates the elevators were built. The Pense elevator I've posted here was built in 1967.
If you want to see the list and see if your favourite elevator was still standing in '06, click on the title of this blog.

Holiday Greetings

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and may 2009 have brought you fond memories of times well spent. And, may 2010 bring you all that you wish for.

Times past

Before steel bins became available and affordable for farmers they built wooden bins to store the grain before shipping. The bins were often built in or near the grain fields so as to cut down on transportation time during the harvest. The risk, of course, was that the bins were vulnerable to thievery of the grain by unscrupulous farmers who wanted to meet their quota. The main disadvantage of these square-cornered buildings was in loading the grain. Someone had to crawl inside the bin and shovel the grain to the auger. I remember the dust and the hard work of moving the heavy grain by shovel. If I didn't put a handkerchief over my nose and mouth I would suffer from inhaling the dust. The worst grain for nasty dust was oats.
These bins I photographed a few years back near Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan. I've "colored" the photo to make it look like it was taken much longer ago to try to recreate the times.
I enjoy the progressive falling of the bins all in a row--symbolic of time passing.

Tessier, Saskatchewan

Tessier is a village of around 30 inhabitants, located west, southwest of Saskatoon. This elevator was still standing in 2001 when this photo was taken. It is a "typical" country grain elevator in that it stands very much alone in the wide open prairie. This elevator is right next to the main highway and so is easily spotted if you're driving along highway #7 on the way to Kindersley from Saskatoon. It's about 50 kilometers or 30 miles from Saskatoon. (Click on the title to find it on Google maps.)
I've chosen to "sketch" the photo to give it a more dated and archival look.

Advertising for herbicides

Farmers face a barrage of advertisements extolling the virtues of this or that herbicide, fertilizers and the equipment to apply them with. I took this photo on the side of the elevator in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan and turned it into a black and white to give the message more clout perhaps. The artwork intrigued me and reminded me of the Soviet style propaganda photos one sees extolling the virtues of the workers in the Motherland, etc.
Herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides are a big industry and farmers have little to say about prices of these products. In order to compete they have to apply these products even though many realize the potential harm to the soil and to people. Farmers can't raise their prices in order to cover the additional costs of applying herbicides, etc., and so are at the mercy of the suppliers.
Organic farmers are working hard to counter this trend and we should support them for it as far as I'm concerned.

Classic Kinley

I made a "sketch" of the photo I took of the Kinley elevator while a train was passing by. To me, it gives the scene a more "classic" feel adding to the memories of times passing.

Rose Valley, Saskatchewan

I'm posting this photo of a grain elevator near Rose Valley, Saskatchewan that was sent to me by friends in Regina. Here is the correction to my previous notes as sent to me by a Rose Valley resident: "Rose Valley is a Town. The elevator is owned by a local farmer but is still in it's orginal location, not out in the countryside. This picture just happens to be taken from the Highway, across the school yard so the CP tracks are not evident. The owner of the agricultural land in between the school & elevator does not own the elevator."
My appreciation to the Rose Valley resident who visited my blog and took the time to correct my version of the photo.