Nobleford Elevators Come Down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAnHPG6TbJE

Video of the Month November 2010: Prairie Sentinel - Saving the Grain Elevator of Val Marie

Photo Gallery of Grain Elevators in Canada

For an excellent collection of grain elevator photos visit:
Photo Gallery of Grain Elevators in Canada

Grain Elevator Photos

Recent photo additions to the virtual museum. Photos of the P & H elevators at  Mossleigh Alberta, November 12, 2010

Moving the Train Car by Hand

One of the  favourite elevator tasks was to jack the train car. Elevator agents used a device called a “Car Jack”. Train cars are delivered to the elevator by way of a side track off the main line. The cars are not in the position need to load them as they need to be aligned with the spout on the back of the elevator. The box cars had a brake wheel on the top of the car which was accessed by a ladder. After releasing the break, the car jack was positioned under the wheel and downward pressure was applied on the handle. The car would barely budge but with repeated action one person could move a train car by hand. Once rolling, a box car would roll freely and may even pick up speed. The agent would have to run ahead of it, climb the ladder and spin the break wheel to stop in time.

Train Tracks and Flattend Coins

Canadian youth would sometimes put items on the train track to be flattened by the passing train. Coins and nails were the favourite. Sometimes the train vibration would knock them off unchanged, and often the wheels would flip them yards from where they were placed. A marker would be selected of their location and then a search for them would happen after the train passed Copper pennies were flattened to twice their size. These were treasures for a young Canadian youth.

The Old Box Cars: "Boarding" the Car

Grain in the elevator was shipped by train car.  Usually to terminals at Vancouver to be shipped to their destination.

The old box cars had sliding doors on the side. The car had to be "boarded" prior to loading it with grain.This consisted of putting large cardboard sheets that were lined with metal straps on the inside of the doors. A board was nailed in to secure the cardboard. A gap of about 1 foot was left at the top of the door so the spout from the elevator could be put in to load the grain.

Later the grain cars were top loaded (as seen in picture) and had hoppers at the bottom to empty.

Getting to the top of the Elevator: The Manlift

The "Manlift" with Foot on the Friction Brake

Going to the top of the elevator. There were two ways to the top floor. One was to climb a wood ladder, inside a confined area known as a shaft, with little no light at times and half inch layer of dust on each rung. The other was to ride the “manlift”. The “manlift” was a self-propelled lift, using a combination of pulleys, rope, weights and gravity. It was an open platform about a yard square. A thick rope went to the pulley at the top of the elevator and  the agent  pulled on the rope to go up. Weight was factored in and weights were added to the platform to provide counter balance. In this way the agent  was able to easily propelled to the top. It  went up a dark and dusty shaft and there was always fear that any number of things could go wrong. What if the rope broke? Gravity was used to go down and there was a friction foot break to slow down the lift.
There is a floor at the top of the elevator with windows on each side. This provided a magnificent, panoramic view of the landscape. .

The top floor housed the top of the “leg”. When the grain got to the top of the leg it was redirected into one of the 15-18 bins through a spout. The spout was moved to the different bins by a metal wheel and a cable system from the ground floor. The metal wheel was aligned with the number of the bin. By manually turning the wheel, the cable system moved the spout to the position on top of the right bin. The grain then filled the bin. The top floor housed this set-up. Sometimes the spout didn’t align properly which caused trouble.

Ladder to the Top

Pictures above are of the "manlift" and the ladder to the top.
and a view from the top floor of a Pioneer Elevator.

View from the top

Hard Labour 1: Unloading Fertilizer Bags

Elevator work is hard labour. Unloading bagged fertilizer was  very hard work. many elevators sold fertilizer and chemicals as part of the elevator business. Prior to fertilizer being sold in bulk in later years, they were sold in 50 pound bags. They were delivered to the elevator by a semi-truck load or by train box car.

At one elevator the fertilizer shed was beside the rail tracks and the box car was positioned in front of the shed. The shed floor was much lower then the box car making for a steep decline. Two planks were laid down from the box car to the shed. The fertilizer bags were stacked 13 or 14 bags high on the box car and then piled that high in the shed. A hand cart was used that could hold seven or eight bags to cart them across the ramp. Usually the load was  5  or 6 bags.

The tricky task was to drive the loaded cart done the planks without tipping or driving off the edge. There was 300 to 400 pounds on the cart. This was manageable except for the spillage of fertilizer. Many fertilizer bags had loose fertilizer in the creases on the end. Some bags had holes or were ripped when loaded. This meant there was fertilizer on the floor and very hard to sweep clear, though we tried. They were like very small ball bearings making traction difficult.

Hard Labour 2: Cleanning Out the Boot

There are many dirty and heavy labour jobs in the elevator- none worse than cleaning out the boot.The dreaded job in the grain elevator was cleaning out the boot. It is a common bond with elevator agents and their families. 

After the farmers’ truck load of grain was weighed on the truck scale, the grain was dumped through metal grates into the pit. The pit was hoppered so the grain would slide toward the leg. The wooden leg was a leather conveyor belt with tin cups, housed in a wooded structure, which took the grain to the top of the elevator where it was disbursed into the proper bin. The boot was at the bottom of the leg, the lowest point in the elevator and the base of the converyor belt where the grain enetered the leg. Bearings were located here. There was always heavy chaff and dust build up which could not be allowed to get so deep as to cover the bearings as it would pose a fire risk.

 Access to the pit was gained though a trap door on the main floor beside the leg. This door had leather for the hinges and handle. A ladder descended into a dark, shaft to the dust filled pit about 15 feet below. A trouble lamp was lowered in and the agent  would climb down the ladder. A helper would lower a five gallon pail into the pit  to scoop up the dust and load the pail. The pail would be raised by the  rope, and this was repeated until clean. Cleaning the boot alone meant many trips up the ladder. The fine dust was overwhelming. Many agents  didn’t use masks or goggles in the early years.

Picture is of the bottom of the boot.

"Boot Door" with leather strap

The Elevator Agent

The elevator was usually run by a single elevator agent, also known as a grain buyer. Even if a grain company had more than one elevator in the community there was usually just one agent “stationed” in that community for each grain company. Occasionally the agent hired a helper, known as a “Second Man”.

Many agents preferred to do the work themself. Almost all employees in the elevator industry were men. The agent was supervised by a District Superintendant who was responsible for all the elevators in their district.  Everyone else in the company as “big shots” from “head office”. They were distinguished by their  suits and often looked down upon for lack of manual labor.

The Sound of the Stubborn Elevator Engine

A sound that echoed through prarrie towns, especially on cold fall mornings, was the unforgettable sound of the gas engine of the elevator. Elevators were run by gas engines before electricity replaced them. A tough chore of the elevator agent was getting the engine started. The pounding sound of the stubborn strokes of that engine could reverberated throughout small towns all over the prairies. The elevator was powered by a temperamental gas engine and agents would battle many battles getting it started. We are fortunate that many people have restored these engines. To hear watch and hear an elevator engine go to this youtube site:

Hear and see a great elevator engine start

Before electricity, elevators had an engine house about 20 feet from the office. A large leather belt ran from the engine to the leg of the elevator. The engine house was the source of many elevator fires! The sound of the engine in full stride, within the engine house, was like thunder.

The community of Paradise Valley has the elevators engine displayed in their community park. We got a picture of it when we visited their elevator.

Agent at his Elevator Post in McLaughlin, Alberta: About 1963

Balanacing on the Train Tracks

Canadian youth had a favourite passtime- balancing on the train track rails.  They would pass the time by balancing on the train track and count the number of tracks they could walk without falling off when visiting the elevator.  While they walked they collected rocks that were of interest . It could be dangerous. It was said that you could tell if a train was coming, the direction and how far away it was by kneeling down and placing one ear on the track, listen for the sound and feel the vibration. Few mastered that skill.  

Tools of the elevator agent

Two of the main tools the elevator agent used was a shovel and the "scoop".Shoveling grain is a primary job in the elevator. When elevator agents retired the farmers often held a pot luck in the community hall and presented him with a shovel that they had all signed. This picture is of a retirement shovel.

The "scoop" was usually made from a sawed off broom handle and a tin can screwed to one endThe handle was crudely flattened with a jack knife so the can would sit flat. When the farmer brought in a load of grain they would dump the grain into the pit. As the grain comes out of the end gate of the truck box samples of the grain are collected with the scoop and put in a pail. The samples are then gathered for each load the farmer is dumping, mixed in the pail and the grain is sent away to be graded. The grade represents the quality of the grain and the higher the quality the more the grain was worth. Farmers often would carefully observe the taking of the samples and would be quick to object if they thought the sample wasn't representative of the load. The sample was taken by the "scoop".

Farmer's Outgrow the Elevator

The farm trucks would eventually outgrow many of the elevators. One of the reasons for the demise of the elevator was the inability to accommodate the larger trucks. They needed to be retrofitted to accommodate larger trucks. This is a picture of an elevator before it was retrofit Dumping trucks became awkward. This picture also shows one of the crib annexes had been replaced by a steel bin.

How the Elevators Got Their Colour



Photos from Doug Panting

At one time prairie grain elevators were CPR red in colour. 
 Doug Panting has written an article, Orange Appeal: The Colourful Story of How Pioneer Gave the Green Light to its Signature Shade, on how the Pioneer decided on orange. He writes about a family trip on a Victoria Day long weekend in 1962 that changed the landscape. Claude Cruikshank, Pioneer engineer and his wife, an architect, were traveling with their family in southern Manitoba. Mrs. Cruikshank asked why he couldn't do something about the appearance of the elevators, all were brick-red at the time. Panting writes that Mr. Cruikshank was joking when he asked her what colour she would paint them. She responded by pointing to her bright coloured pants which were orange. He liked the idea! Several trial elevators were painted orange and  met with resistance from the elevator agents. However, the new colour was a success with grain handling and sales going up in the orange elevators and soon the agents wanted their elevators painted orange. Soon other elevators companies followed and chose colours schemes.

Students Like To Paint Elevators

Pictures and paintings of prairie landscapes often include Pioneer elevators. School students like to paint elevators. This picture is another example of a student piece with "Pioneer Orange" as a major theme.

Elevator agent featured in national TV Commercial

Elevator agent  featured in a national TV commercial. Film crews spent days filming his activities at the elevator. These pictures were taken during the filming. "The film production crew asked his permission to take bags of dust home with them. They said that it was very hard to find that much fine dust around anywhere." They completely cleaned out the boot of dust.  The commercial was well done and was seen a lot on the CBC.

Paradise Valley Elevator

The community of Paradise Valley, Alberta, Canada has preserved their elevator. It is a registered historical place in Alberta.

They had created a town museum in the annex. A sloping floor inside the annex wound its way to the top and artifacts were displayed on the way.

 

The Elevator Was Alive With Animal Life

The country elevators was alive with abundant animal life. Birds were always plentiful due to the constant food source of spilt grain and the abundance of mice. Elevators also provided a sanctuary and lofty perches. Pigeons (Rock Doves), horned larks, crows, magpies, many species of sparrows, owls, hawks, and bats, mice, cats, and skunks were common inhabitors. Occasionally, fox, coyotes and lynx would be seen close by.

Cats at the Elevator

Mice were everywhere! Cats were the agent’s friend and ally. There utility was to control the mice in and around the office. Agents often  had a variety of stray cats in the office. There life was tough, and they fought each other often, those that survived were always, scruffy, full and fat. They would often kill a mouse and proudly drop it off at office door. By day they contently slept in front of the office gas heater. At night they where locked out of the office and they prowled.

The Story of the Injured Owl and the Seed Cleaning Plant

The second floor of many grain elevators housed the seed cleaning plant. These plants weren’t used very often after the early years of the elevator. The second floor had windows on each side and a very high roof, probably 20 feet. The second floor was not used. Owls were frequent visitors to the elevator.

Those Dangerous Augers and the Story of the Missing Thumb

Augers, in many varieties, are central to the workings of the country elevator. The most dangerous is the drag auger often used in remove grain from annex bins. The annex bins did not have hopper bottoms so the grain that did not run out had to either be shovelled or augers out. The drag auger was a fully exposed auger system with about three foot sections attached together on swivel joints. When the grain was close the floor the auger would hit the wood and bounce recklessly. The operator would hold on to one end between their legs, while seated on the moving grain pile. They were very dangerous. Often the bins held old barley and were thick with dust. Usually a dull electric trouble light was the only source of light and very dim. Auger accidents are a constant threat in rural life.

All augers are dangerous.  Safeguards on equipment and would often take them off as he felt they were a hindrance to their operation. This was a common practice by elevator agents.

The Outhouse

Outhouse:

Country elevators did not have running water for most of their 100 year existence. In later years, around the 1990’s, those few that were modernized were equipped with bathrooms. Oddly, computers and bathrooms were introduced to the country elevator about the same time. Therefore, outhouses were intimate out buildings of the country elevator.

The outhouse was admired for its structure. It was a classic design. 

Alberta's oldest standing elevator at Rayley

While researching the history of the elevator, surprised to learn that the oldest surviving elevator in Alberta was located in Rayley, Albert.

The rail line hand been abandoned years ago and the rails pulled out. The elements had slowly exacted a great toll on the building. The tin siding was tattered and missing in places; windows long since broken out; and doors a jar. The exposed wood was starting to show signs of serious rot.  The grates were missing above the pit and some of the stairways were not trustworthy. It was in a state of disrepair and yet surprisingly in tact.

Elevator Rows

At the peak of the country elevator, most communities had more than one Grain Company competing for the business of the farmers; to buy their grain and sell them chemicals. In the early 1900’s most towns had an “elevator row”. Due to the proliferation of privately owned elevators and then their eventual amalgamation, a company would often have more than one elevator in a community. More than two elevators were known as “elevator row”. Some communities had a dozen of elevators. The number of elevators in “elevator row” served as bragging rites for the community and was used as promotional enticements to settlers. Elevators were built eight or nine miles apart to ensure grain delivery would be no more than one days drive by horse drawn wagon. Almost all hamlets, villages and towns had elevators. Today, only two surviving “elevator rows” remain in Canada; Warner, Alberta and Inglis Manitoba. The folks in Inglis have done an excellent job of preserving and promoting the elevators.
Our station in Nobleford, in southern Alberta, was a prime example. Villages of Nobleford, Barons, Carmangay, Champion and Vulcan followed the rail line north. They all had an elevator row, with multiple grain companies and were nine to twelve miles apart.