Spruce Grove Grain Elevator

I have a bunch of posts on the go, waiting for info and final touches. In the meantime, here is a grain elevator!

The Spruce Grove Elevator was built in 1958 and was in operation until 1995. It was then due to be demolished, but thankfully the Ag Society stepped in and prevented what would have been a blow to the already small number of surviving elevators in our province. This one is the last remaining wooden grain elevator on the CN line west of Edmonton

It has been restored, is fully functional and operates as a museum. The Spruce Grove and District Agricultural Heritage Society operates the Museum and Archives. The Farmers Market is also held here every Saturday from April - December.

There was no one else there when we stopped and the volunteer in the elevator office seemed surprised to have more visitors, as one family had already visited that day. Shows how many people stop and see these historical places. Many places we visit (small town museums etc.) operate on donations, I always make sure I have cash with me, it's not always a lot but at least it is something.

After looking around the elevator and taking a few photos, we noticed a trailer in the back that housed the archives. It was open and a lady named Marnie was there, as a volunteer. We had a good chat about old schools, the sad state of funding and apathy towards these old places (by individuals as well as local government). She told me of the plans for the museum, and mentioned more than once that it was something she'd not see in her lifetime. I think she was happy that we stopped to visit. I was.

More info on this elevator here.

Esther

Since I first started exploring and looking at photos of abandoned places, I wanted to visit Esther, AB. Esther is almost a ghost town and is on private land. Luckily I was with a local friend and we had permission to check it out.

Esther was established in the 1920's when the railroad came, and was named after the daughter of the postmaster. Esther never had more than a few dozen or so residents and today I think there are only a couple of people left. The railroad is long gone but the elevator lives on as the oldest surviving Alberta Wheat Pool elevator left in the province.

There is lots more to see and I would love to go back and spend more time taking photos and exploring but for now I was happy to be in Esther.

Nature taking over an old gas pump

Wrentham and the Last Wooden Ogilvie Elevator

How many times have you seen an old church or other old building and though to yourself, 'it'd be cool to own something like that'. Or is that just me and a few of my friends? I have seen old churches converted to businesses and homes and have seen a few for sale recently. I would totally live in one. Renovated, of course. My family does not get it. I always worry for the future of these old places. If I can't buy all the places...WHO WILL?

What about a grain elevator? How cool would it be to own a grain elevator? They are rapidly disappearing from our prairie landscape and there are only a handful of people who seem to care enough to do something about it. I know a few of these people and recently visited their elevator in the hamlet of Wrentham, AB. Wrentham is located in Southern Alberta, less than an hour from the US Border. It is home to a handful of residents, some old buildings, and 2 elevators.

The elevator in question was built in 1925 by the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company. Not familiar with Ogilvie? Neither was I. When Ogilvie sold off their elevators to the bigger grain companies (Alberta Wheat Pool, United Grain Growers, Saskatchewan Pool, or Federal Grain) in the late 1950s, their comparatively small elevators weren't needed and many were demolished, though a few survived being used as additional storage for the larger companies. The one in Wrentham was purchased by Alberta Wheat Pool in 1958 and served as an annex for their adjacent grain elevator until it was then sold to a local farmer in 1968 for him to use as storage for his grain. It remained in his family ownership until his son was ready to retire in the mid 2000s. This set off a chain of events that lead to the elevator being purchased by the Ogilvie Wooden Grain Elevator Society (OWGES) in December of 2014.

The goal of OWGES is to raise money to preserve this unique elevator and awareness of being the last ‘Ogilvie Flour’ branded wooden grain elevator left in the province of Alberta. The intention is to restore the elevator on its original site and create a working museum. Additionally, a Provincial Historic designation is pending for this wooden beauty.  The once dormant Canadian Pacific Railway line to the north of the elevator was re-instated in the fall of 2016 by Forty Mile Rail, a farmer group based out of Foremost, AB that operates a grain train moving grain from Stirling to Foremost.

The East and West faces read
'Ogilvie Flour', still faintly visible.
The South face said 'Miracle Feeds',
a brand sold by Ogilvie.

 

Once there was 2 more elevators in between these.

Former Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator

There are a few buildings on 'Main Street', including the Wrentham General Store which was opened in 1923 as a gas station and garage. The second building was added in about 1927 and became the store. The inside still has many of the original features. It received it's historic designation in 1997. It is sad to see it in this condition.

Wrentham General Store. 

Formerly Citizens Lumber Co. Ltd. 

Must love trucks.

Want more?! Here are some links regarding the Ogilvie Wooden Grain Elevator:

OWGES Facebook Page
Off the Beaten Path Aug 2014
CBC Article March 2015
Calgary Herald Article March 2015
Confessions of a Train Geek April 2016
Forgotten Alberta August 2016
Off the Beaten Path July 2017
DanOCan September 2017

I'd like to give a special thank you to Jason Paul Sailer for providing invaluable info about the elevator and OWGES and for answering lots and lots of questions. Also, a shout out to Cody Kapscos and Chris Doering for always answering my questions. You guys are all awesome! If it works out next time I am down there, I'd love to see inside the elevator.

Photos taken on November 25th, 2017.

Skiff and the Sweetgrass Hills

I got to enjoy a quick 3 day trip to Lethbridge, AB this weekend. We got to see old friends and celebrate their sons birthday. It turned into a 4 day weekend when my son woke up sick Monday morning and we had to stay home. Such is life. It gave me a chance to blog and catch up on reading blogs while he was resting.

I was able to get out and do some exploring as well this weekend. Exploring in this part of Alberta is different from where I usually haunt. It seems lonelier, buildings and farms are less frequent and towns are small and far apart. Better make sure you have a full tank before heading out. I was expecting snow when I planned this trip but it turns out a chinook blew through and melted all the snow (not global warming). It was windy and the skies were beautiful, with lovely colours of pink and orange on the horizon over the Sweetgrass Hills to the south.

One of my many stops was Skiff, AB. This tiny quiet hamlet has a few streets of houses an old General Store and, the reason I stopped in, a grain elevator. The name Skiff appears to be a nautical reference as there are streets called Rudder, Tiller and Bow.

Minty shed, near Skiff.

Most if not all prairie towns had a grain elevator, usually more than one. Skiff used to have 3. This remaining one is now privately owned. The previous owner was Parrish & Heimbecker. The other elevators were originally Alberta Wheat Pool. They have been gone since around 2000.

The old general store is a block away from the elevator. You can still faintly read 'General Store' and John Deere Farm Equipment'.  

Below is an old photo from 1999 of the elevators courtesy of Chris Stackhouse, who has photographed many wooden grain elevators as well as prairie life and much more, check him out!

I love the painting-like quality of this photo

A photo from the 1970's by Eric Musekamp via Flickr

Photo courtesy of Joe Kuzmiski 

After leaving Skiff, I found an old homestead. All that remains are several sheds and outbuildings. There was also a stone set of steps that once led to a house. It would've been a magnificent view from the front door of that home.

All my photos taken on November 25th, 2017. 

Leavin' on a Steam Train & the Big Valley Roundhouse

Locomotive #41

I have been through these parts of Alberta several times. They are some of my favourite areas to explore. This time we took the train! The Alberta Prairie Railway Steam Train from Stettler to Big Valley to be exact. What a great trip! The gentle swaying motion of the cars, the sounds of the train as it clickety-clacks down the line at 18mph...I am pretty sure I traveled this way in another life. I loved it. If you ever have the opportunity to ride in an old passenger train...DO IT. It was a great way to spend the day with my family. The views from the train are ones you won't see by car, the entertainment is great and you might even get robbed by bandits.

Our 10 car train was lead by Locomotive #41. She was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia in 1920 and served on the Mississippian Railroad from 1947-67. Central Western Railway brought her to Canada in 1989 and Alberta Prairie bought her in 1990. She was repainted to match the style used by the Canadian National Railway from 1920-60. In 1986 she was converted from coal to oil and currently consumes reclaimed oil. She uses 100 gallons of water for every mile traveled, or 10 gallons every 4 minutes. Wow!! It's quite literally a moving piece of history.

Old coal mine camp (as seen from the train)

Fenn: Population 3. Former General Store (as seen from the train)

Gadzooks! Train Robbers!

The trip from Stettler to Big Valley was about 1.5 hours. We then had 2 hours in Big Valley, after eating and looking in some shops, we spent the majority of the time at the roundhouse ruins. Climbing, looking, and exploring the concrete remains of this once great train hub.

The History:
Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) chose Big Valley to be one of it's divisional points, this shaped the future for Big Valley. In 1912 a second-class station was built as well as a 5 stall roundhouse, coal dock, turntable, storage sheds, water tank and more. 5 more stalls were added by 1918. The railway coming to Big Valley brought full time employment and made it a busy railway town. Sadly, the railway boom was not to last for Big Valley.

Canadian National acquired the former Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1923 and some facilities became redundant. Personnel from Big Valley were transferred to Mirror, AB (a former divisional point for the GTP). The Big Valley line became a branch line and traffic dropped dramatically, this was devastating for the town and the population declined quickly. The roundhouse was closed by 1948 and the station closed in 1967. The line was pulled up, except for the section that we traveled on of course.

Today the town has a population of 364, and has several great attractions. I will show you a few here but mostly I took photos of the Roundhouse site.

St. Edmund's Church (taken on a previous visit). Built in 1916.
It sits on a hill overlooking the town. You can't miss it. 

Restored grain elevator historic site, open for viewing.
(Photo taken on a previous visit)

Classic small town bank building.

McAlister Museum. Local artifacts, vehicles and machinery.
Sunfire not part of the collection. 

Now on to the roundhouse, get ready, there are a lot of pictures. I really like the roundhouse site. Also, it would be a neat place to take a drone.

Can you spot the guy that wouldn't get out of my shot? 

Grain elevator over the roundhouse wall.

The turntable. You spin me right round, baby right round like a record baby, right round round round. 

Boiler Room and Machine Shop

Labyrinthy

My kiddo doing stuff

The Pits. The others had been filled in.

I will be back in Big Valley soon to spend more time exploring the roundhouse. There are things I missed since we had a limited amount of time there.

References: History of the area from the Alberta Prairie Railway promotional material

Wandering through Waseca, SK

I had reason to visit Lloydminster this weekend so I figured, why not? I haven't ever been to that area of the province, so this blogger left the familiar Alberta backroads and took the show on the road. Lloydminster is an interesting place, it has the distinction of being part in Alberta and part in Saskatchewan, earning it the nickname of the Border City. Fun fact....the border between the 2 provinces is also the 4th Meridian.

I knew I wanted to explore in Saskatchewan but didn't have a lot of time, so between visiting and doing fun stuff with the kiddo, I found a few hours and headed east on Highway 16. You may think driving through Saskatchewan is boring but there seems to be enough little towns along the way to make it interesting. I always say I will stop in every new town I pass but this weekend didn't allow for all of them. I passed Marshall and Lashburn, but stopped in Waseca (upon recommendation from a friend, but I would have stopped there anyway after seeing the unmistakable shapes of some interesting looking prairie skyscrapers in the distance). The village of Waseca has roughly 150 residents, 2 cool old grain elevators and some seriously bumpy unpaved roads. I loved it.

Here are a few images of Waseca:

Welcome to Waseca!

Waseca 1911-2011. Found along the rail line.

On the corner of 1st Ave NE and 1st Street E, you'll find the Waseca Fire Hall. The old fire truck has Humboldt written on it. Humboldt is a town about 3.5 hours SE of Waseca.

Waseca Fire Hall

On the other corner of 1st and 1st is the Christ Anglican Church. It was built in 1907 and added to the register of Canada's Historic Places in 2010. It is one of the oldest buildings in Waseca and is at it's original location. It was used over the years by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church congregations. Services stopped in 1979. The Waseca Heritage Committee maintains the building and it is still occasionally used.

Christ Anglican Church 

My main reason for visiting was to see the grain elevators. A Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and a Federal Grain Ltd. You can still make out the words on the front and sides. The rest of the town was a bonus! From what I can gather the elevators are privately owned, not sure how much they are used. There was no activity when I was there, anywhere. I saw no people the entire time I was there. Also faint but legible at the top of the Wheat Pool elevator are the words, "Use Pool Co-Op Flour."

I enjoyed Waseca, now onto the next stop down the highway.