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We drive by them every day and perhaps our entire lives without giving any thought as to their present day value. I’m not talking about their lumber value either. Towering above most buildings set against the backdrop of a lush rich valley are our grain elevators located in the heart of town and on the outskirts of town and in the satellite community of Wynndel.
Next
time you drive by our grain elevators proudly nod in acknowledgment
of their
“The
grain elevators were built in 1935 and 1936, with the red one being
the first. The Wynndel grain elevator was built at about the same
time, 1936 or 1937. They were built to accommodate the wheat and
grain crops expected from the Creston flats once they were reclaimed,
a project that also took place in 1935. Farmers sold their grain
to the elevator, which then distributed it to markets in other parts
of the country and probably around the world...essentially, the
same principle as any of the local packing sheds. The Canadian Wheat
Board set quotas for the wheat farmers; they could only sell a certain
number of bushels per acre to the elevators. Unfortunately for local
farmers, the yield per acre was usually far higher than that quota,
which meant they had a lot of wheat that they had to sell locally,
or not at all. This prompted many farmers to switch to other crops
- White Dutch Clover, alfalfa, etc The Christensons built their
own elevator in response (that's the one on Devon Street, below
the Museum).” In
a telephone conversation I had last November with Irmi Critcher
of the B.C. Grain Producers Association I learned that the old style
grain elevators are declining at a rapid rate across the country
to be replaced by “state of the art” buildings. She
said there are only a few regions in BC that had grain elevators.
Irmi said it seems that the grain elevators that survive do so because
the community values them and people find ways to change their use
to something that is needed in the community. Dawson Creek has renovated
their grain elevator into an art gallery and the other is part of
a historical park. ”As everyone who has driven across the Great Plains remembers, the elevators are the lighthouses of the prairies, the visual parentheses that bracket each stage of the journey. Leave one small town and look ahead to the next grain elevator, miles away. Arrive there and, almost reassuringly, another elevator materializes in the distance. Then another and another. Linda Laird and her husband, Larry Haney, have a passion for grain elevators. They collect them - on paper and on film. Traveling from Texas to the Canadian border, Missouri to Utah, they've taken 1,500 photographs, talked to hundreds of people, dug deep into old records.” |
Written
by Debby Johnson
They
may not be covered bridges that are prized by easterners and their
visitors. However, they are our western
heritage,
proudly standing out as reminders of those people who worked the
soil to produce nourishment for our country’s people. 
Grain
elevators are a reminder of a town - our town, whose people quietly
went about taking care of each other and the land. These elevators
represent the values still found in our community, values that support
the family, community, nature and individuality. Very few of these
icons in Canada have survived. Our elevators still stand. It says
something about us. I believe it tells of our resilience and of
a way of life that is inherent in our cherished lifestyle. Yes,
times have changed and so will the use of these grain elevators
in order to continue standing as symbols of our heritage. 
important
role within our community. Also, promise to assist in their preservation,
because in doing so you are agreeing to help preserve our community’s
lifestyle. 
