Wooden crib grain elevators have been called prairie sentinels signaling the site of a town.
The popular style of grain elevator blanketed Western Canada with almost 5,800 units in 1933. Saskatchewan boasted 2,000 of them.
Rail line abandonment and development of concrete high throughout elevators spelled the end of wooden crib units.
Fewer than 400 were left standing in this province five years ago with many acting as local farm storage and loading facilities.
Remembering these elevators and the historic role they played in farming became a project for the village of Stockholm, northeast of Regina.
Located along the track are 40-inch high replica models of elevators that served the community until the 1990s.
Two are Pioneer Grain Company units dating to 1909 and 1914. The third unit was the Colonial Elevator, built in 1903-04, and bought by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1926.
Pilot trainees during the Second World War and at 15 Wing used the elevators as landmarks for navigation.
Ron Walter can be reached at [email protected]
