Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.05.1994, Blaðsíða 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 27. maí 1994
Consideríng a piece of the past
Story and photos by Joan Eyolfson Cadham
They grace calendars and coffee table
books. as much a part of the
Canadian landscape as the Rocky
Mountains and kids playing hockey at dusk
on a homestyle backyard rink. Like the
homestyle backyard rinks, they are disap-
pearing, and with them goes a big slice of
prairie heritage and histoiy.
The wooden grain elevators whose dis-
tinctive shape once defined Saskatchewan,
beads threaded at seven mile intervals onto
a ribbon of road, are coming down, victims
to progress and technology. They leave
behind a long and honorable history.
The Leslie elevator system stretches
back to 1910, five years after Saskatchewan
achieved provincial status. The first elevator
was a 28,000 bushel facility known as No.
210, built by the Saskatchewan Co-opera-
tive Elevator company. The Pool bought
the elevator in 1926, paying $7,845.50 for it.
They gave it a new name — Pool No. 340.
In 1926, there were 11,903 acres of
wheat and 4,159 acres of coarse grains
under cultivation in the Leslie elevator area,
served by four elevators, the Pool, the
Stewart Grain, National and Pioneer. At
the end of harvest, 200,900 bushels of
wheat and 8,960 bushels of coarse grains
had found their way into the Leslie eleva-
tors.
A couple of years later, acreage plunged.
There were 8,739 acres in wheat, 2,530 in
coarse grains. 173,810 bushels of wheat
and 25,190 bushels of coarse grains were
delivered to Leslie, according to
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool records provid-
ed by a patient and veiy efficient librarian
named Diana.
The area grew, and by 1937, the facility
was too small. Down it came. The replace-
ment was a 35,000 bushel elevator which
eventually was given a 35,000 bushel frame
annex in 1953 and a 45,000 bushel crib
annex in 1958. In 1937, the old cottage
built in 1914 for the elevator agent was
replaced.
The smaller Pool elevator at Leslie was
originally a Federal building built in 1928.
In 1972, Pool took over the entire Federal
countiy elevator operation and acquired all
the elevators. The 1928 version had a
28,000 bushel capacity. It was rebuilt in
1967 and a 27,000 bushel frame annex and
a 20,000 bushel temporary frame annex
were eventually added.
Histoiy is in buildings and histoiy is in
people. The first Leslie Pool agent was Mr.
E. Forester who served from 1926 to 1929
then was replaced by A. C. Peterson. The
first Board included A. J. McPhail as
Director, O. J. Halldorson of Wynyard as
Delegate, P. Howe of Leslie as Chairman
and V. E. Virgin of Leslie as Secretary.
McPhail became the President of the
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
Other agents included R. B. Birley (1932
to 1936), Mathias Tagseth (1936 to 1944),
A. Halvorson (1944 to 1945), G. A. Mills
(1945 to August 1956), S. Sulewski (last
four months of 1956), P. E. Amason (1956
to 1963), G. G. Narfason (September 16 to
October 21, 1963), 5. B. Ketilson (1963 to
1973), Virgil Reynolds, who was the final
Federal agent and the final Pool agent, 1973
to 1991.
Along the line, Tuffnell and the big
magenta Foam Lake elevators are also
gone. According to Pool delegates, the
Elfros elevator is secure for quite some
time, and the Mozart ones are still in active
service and do have some life left.
Grain stitl being loaded in Mozart.
The end of an era.
neil
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BILLBOARD
FAMILYIFUNERAL
COUNSELLORS
Survday/ ^UKxe ^9/ 2 p.m.
a+ +ke Si0ut*ðssotA statuey
AAatrit'oba L-egisla+ive 13uildiug (Z\vouncls
T^ecep+icm |-ollowiug at +ke
5caudiiaaviau (Ze.v\\ve.; ~7ó4 (Zv\n S+f*ee+
C\uest Speake>*t KHstjóm Kadssou
Funeral pyre for an elevator.
Be sure and attend the Special Programme on Sunday, June
19, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Iceland’s
Independence, which is sponsored by the Icelandic Canadian
Frón and the Jón Sigurðsson Chapter IODE.
Awreath-laying ceremony will occur at the Jón Sigurðsson
statue on the Manitoba Legislative Building Grounds at 2
p.m. The reception, which is to follow at the Scandinavian
Centre, will indude a guest speaker, Kristján Karlsson, from lceland.
Kristján is a distinguished scholar and writer who holds degrees
from the University of Califomia and Columbia University of New
York; he is a former curator of the lcelandic Collection at Cornell
University in New York.
Come ouf and Kelp us celebrate 4\is festive occasionl
This space is provided monthly by Neil Bardal Inc.,
Family Funeral Counsellors, for the use of community groups.
If your group would like to use this space, please call us at 949-2200.
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Kirsten Wolf, Bea Sharpe, S. Norma Godavari, Hal Bjornson,
Connie Schminowski
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