The Elevator Kids

I was at the Prince of Wales Elementary School in SE Calgary today, where I met the Elevator Kids. They are in the Grades 1 and 2, and their teacher, Mrs. Jennifer George, invited me to speak to them after she had read about me in the Calgary Herald last November.





I met with the kids today, and was very impressed with the amount of knowledge they had about elevators. I showed them a slide show presentation I did on Powerpoint, and gave them a copy of the Vanishing Sentinels maps, while they sang me two very cool songs, and showed me a DVD of them going to Edmonton and talking to Gary Mar and Premier Ralph Klein.

I also received a very beautiful poster of grain elevators and a story which the last years class did... when one of the children read it to me... it took a very hard effort to prevent myself from crying. It was that touching!

After I was finished... some of the kids gave me these drawings that they had done of elevators... and they are posted below! These were done by Grade 1 and 2 students, and are very impressive!











Finally... this is an model elevator one of the kids showed me, and I believe he said that he and his dad put it together... this is a really nice job!



All in all... it was a great experience talking to the kids... just wish I had more time to spend with them! I am really glad to see someone is teaching kids about elevator history... because they are our heritage!!!

Here's their website: Check it out! http://www.galileo.org/schools/district-cbe/princeofwales/stories/index1.htm

Indus - Fulton Farms

It's odd... you can go by a location several times and never notice it... until today. This elevator is located about a mile east of Indus, Alberta on Highway 22X, east of Calgary.

Many thanks to the following people

I'd like to thank the following people:

Neil Cory and Al Clark (Info On Beaver River)
Shannon Jansen (Lamont County)
Dale Brown (Nemiskam, Fourty Mile County)
Mrs. Marion Byers (Info on Cherhill)
Donna Mae Grant (Lacombe County)
Don and Ron Law (Info on Chigwell)
The Cochrane Public Library
Noreen Robertson (Strathcona County)
Dan Pritchard (Info On Blue Ridge)
and Larry Bilbin

For all of their help in either getting me information or forwarding me onto someone who could on the history of the grain elevators in those towns.

Without your help... getting this information would have been impossible!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!

Naco, Alberta

This ghost town (literally) is located about 21 kilometres north of Cereal, Alberta, on Secondary 886. Virtually nothing of the town is left, except the old store, but this is the site of where Alberta Wheat Pool built it's second elevator in Alberta.


Here is a closeup of the plaque on the cairn.

Loverna, Sask (Now NE of Esther, Alberta)

I have been looking for this elevator since I heard about it last year. This Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator was moved from Loverna Saskatchewan to it's present location about 10 kilometres NE of Esther, Alberta around 1983-1984. It can be seen from Secondary 889 going north of Esther to Altario, looking to the east.


You may notice that this elevator is a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (No. 381), and also has part of a Federal Elevator as well.

Coming into the final stretch

Well.. after 4 trips to the Glenbow archives in Calgary, II think I have gone thru every record they have on elevators in Alberta. Sadly... all they had was records from the Alberta Wheat Pool... but at least it filled in a majority of holes I had in my records.

However... here is a quick list of the towns I am still looking for informatiion on grain eleavtor closings.

• Codner (near Rocky Mountain House)
• Withrow (near Eckville)
• Chigwell (near Lacombe)
• Mirror
• Linden
• Erwick
• Lougheed
• Lindbrook (near Tofield)
• Tofield
• Poe
• Scotford (near Fort Saskatchewan)
• Hairy Hill (near Willingdon)
• Musidora (near Two Hills)
• Beauvallon
• Slawa
• Hazeldine
• Lloydminister
• Bretona
• Looma
• High River
• Connemera (Need Closure Date)
• Woodhouse
• Kipp
• Lethbridge
• Magrath
• Welling
• Peacock
• Whitney
• Pivot (Between Hilda and Schuler)
• Minaret (South of Olds)
• Nettok
• Penhold
• Hoadley
• Alhambra (near Rocky Mountain House)
• Coronado (Between Gibbons and Redwater)
• Woodgrove (need closure year)
• Ashmont (need closure year)
• Lindbergh
• Beaver River
• Carbondale (near St. Albert)
• Newbrook
• Venice
• Peavey
• Mearns
• Codessa (near Eaglesham... Peace River country)
• Dimsdale (near Grand Prairie)
• Wembley
• Hythe
• Lymburn (Need closure year)
• Judah
• Roma Junction
• Diamond City (Near Coaldale)

And I think that's it. If anyone has any info on these towns, please email me at ncc2920@telusplanet.net

Thanks!

Pictures from Creston, BC

I just got these pictures from David Brandenburg, From Edmonton, Alberta.

These are from Creston, British Columbia, and were taken on April 15, 2006. I had no idea these three elevators were still standing.


This is the Alberta Wheat Pool elevator


Here is the UGG elevator


This was an Alberta Wheat Pool elevator which was being used as a seed cleaning palnt. David told me it was about a mile from the other two, and is off rail.

I'd like to thank David for his contribution to my project.

New stuff from SE Alberta Road Trip

Yesterday (March 23, 2006)... I went on a long planned trip to SE Alberta, from Acadia Valley to Gem. At least the weather down there was really good! Here are some of the pics I took.

ARNESON, ALBERTA


Arneson was located NE of Acadia Valley, and had an Alberta Wheat Pool elevator. It was built in 1927, and was closed in 1972. All that is left is this sign... located on Secondary 889 or Range Road 1-3, and about 1 mile north of Township Road 25-0.

EMPRESS, ALBERTA

Empress is located about 20 km south of Acadia Valley on Highway 41 and 14 km west on Secondary 562. This town, located on the CP line (The Royal Line) which ran east from Bassano to Empress and into Saskatchewan, had 4 elevators, plus a rail station and roundhouse.


This elevator was privately built, and is located NW of Empress on Range Rd 2-0 north of Secondary 562.



This photo is of the elevators which were in Empress, and the second one is of the station, which I was told is the only one of it's kind in Alberta.

HILDA, ALBERTA


Hilda is located 67 kilometres south of Empress, and 5 kilometres east of Highway 41 on Township Road 18-0. I was shocked to find out that the CP Rail tracks had been torn out from SW of Burstall, Saskatchewan to Pivot (south of Hilda) back in 2005. These pictures show the last elevator in Hilda, which is a Paterson. It is still in use, but only as a satellite storage facility for the main elevator in Dunmore. You can also see some of the tons of ties and rail which were being stored there.

PIVOT, ALBERTA


Pivot was located on Range Road 1-2, approximentaly 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Secondary 537. The elevator was closed in the 1950's and I haven't been able to find any information on this siding.

MEDICINE HAT, ALBERTA


This P&H Concrete elevator is located on the south side of Kipling Street, east of College Avenue in Medicine Hat. I had been looking for this elevator for about 3 times when I was down in Medicine Hat, and finally found it on this trip. This elevator was opened in 1918 by Medley Shaw Milling Co. Ltd, and was later taken over by Maple Leaf Mills. Parrish and Heimbecker in 1981.

SOUTH OF GEM, ALBERTA

*
This Alberta Pacific Elevator was originally located in Countess, Alberta on CP Rail's "Royal Line" which ran from Bassano to Empress. The elevator is located NW of Bassano on Range Road 16-4, about 1 mile north of Secondary 596, and about 1 miule south of Gem. The picture is a little over exposed due to the fact I took it at about 7pm... about 10 minutes after sunset.

All in all... this trip took me 13.5 hours... including stopping time to talk to a few people and check out the history of a few places in the Medicine Hat library! Next stop... the south-west part of Alberta for a few I missed.

Paterson Grain

Paterson Grain was founded in 1908, and built it's first elevator in Fort William, (now Thunder Bay) Ontario.

In Alberta, there are only two Paterson elevators.

HILDA



This elevator was built in 1924 by N.M. Paterson and Sons. The elevator was rebuilt in 1955, and had new equipment installed in 1996. The elevator is still in operation, but only as a satellite storage facility, even though the rail tracks through Hilda were torn out in 2005.

DUNMORE


Located about 1 miles east of Dunmore in SE Alberta. This facility was built in 1998, and is in use today.

Canada Malting Co. Ltd.

Lyalta, Alberta



This elevator was once owned by Agricore, and is a double buffalo bin style. It is located NE of Calgary on the Alsask - Calgary CN rail line.

Niobe, Alberta



These two elevators are located north of Innisfail on the CP main line running from Calgary to Edmonton. These elevators were previously owned by Agricore and Cargill.

Beiseker, Alberta


This ex-Cargill is located in Beiseker, on the CN line running from Camrose to Calgary.

Bawlf, Alberta


Bawlf is located SE of Camrose on the CP line which runs from Wetaskwin to Provost. This elevator is an ex-Agricore.

Kiron Siding

The Kiron siding is located on the Alliance Railroad sub which runs SE from Camrose to Alliance, and is about 2 kilometers south of the Agricore-United elevator , and about 1/4 mile east. The sign can barely been seen from the crossing. It had an elevator at one time... but I have been having trouble trying to find information on it. Of course... it could be the Valentine elevator, which was located about a 1/3 of a mile to the east of the siding. To get this shot, I had to walk nearly 2/3 of a mile down the tracks, since I couldn't find an access road.



These two shots show NW and SE of the Kiron Sign.. as far as I can tell.. the actual siding is long gone. The Agricore-United elevator can be seen in the first photo in the distance.

Northeast of Nisku

This elevator is located on a farm 2 miles east of Nisku (101 St.) and 2 miles north (Twp 51-0, Range 24-4)

North of Gwynne

This elevator is located 10.3 km north of Gwynne on Sec. 882 (1 km north of Twp 47-4 on RR 23-0) on the Rasmuson Seed Farm.

NE Edmonton

This elevator is located on highway 28A just north of Highway 15, just on the NE border of Edmonton. It is located on a farm on the west side of the highway.

North Edmonton

This elevator was privately built, and is located on 50th St., about 1.7 kilometers south of 195th Avenue in North East Edmonton.