Brant’s Last Grain Elevator

We’re in Brant Alberta to take in this prairie skyscraper, taller than anything around, standing in a sleepy little burg down by the tracks and where there were others it’s now the last one. With some good timing, those amazing colours and that “mood” one can only get as the sun sets, we are rewarded Here, some eighty or so clicks south of Calgary, along the CPR’s Calgary to Lethbridge line, it’s today’s subject, the ex-Alberta Wheat Pool/B&J Farms Grain Elevator.

History is a bit spotty in places in regards to this building (deja-vu). Still we’ll do our best to fill in the blanks and I suspect updates and fixes may be coming.

We’re not sure exactly when it was built – records are silent – the owner similarly so – but it’s hinted it may have been sometime in the early to mid-1920s. It fits I guess. It’s pretty ordinary in design and capacity and is much like any other elevator of the era. This one’s a survivor, however. As you may have heard, most are long gone.

The firm that originally owned the building was called Home Grain, founded in 1914. At their peak they had a good sized network of rural grain elevators scattered across the prairies. In 1929 the firm was absorbed by the Searle Grain Company (founded 1921) along with a couple other firms – Searle, it seems, and data is a bit contradictory, may have been a parent company of Home for a time, or at minimum, and we’ve confirmed this, shared some of the same board before the two got together.

Searle grew to be a big player in the industry. At their biggest, after absorbing some other modest sized grain firms, went on to own three hundred and eighty six or four hundred and fifty seven grain elevators depending on the source. Most docs seem to suggest the higher number is right.

In 1967, with everyone celebrating Canada’s hundredth birthday, Searle was acquired by Federal Grain (founded 1929 via the merging of several smaller companies). This combined group, with the addition of Alberta Pacific Grain which Federal had owned for decades but operated as a separate unit and then absorbed, owned some eleven or twelve hundred elevators across three provinces (again reports vary a bit). Federal was then the largest privately owned non co-op grain firm in the nation.

At one point under Searle or Federal ownership (a date only hinted at) the longer driveway was added. It was also suggested the entire building was rebuilt from the top down then. This could explain why it feels (to us) newer than it is. Still researching and of course if you know, do speak up.

In 1972, Federal’s assets in Alberta (some four hundred elevators) were acquired by the biggest player here, the Alberta Wheat Pool (a co-op). Similarly, the co-op Wheat Pools in Saskatchewan and Manitoba acquired those in their respective provinces.

The Alberta Wheat Pool was founded in 1923 and went on to own nine hundred and eighty some elevators in the Alberta at its peak (so after the Federal takeover). In total, then, there was some fourteen or fifteen hundred elevators in Alberta (a guess – we couldn’t find records for that time) and this shows just how dominate the Pool was. The rest was divided among some four or five other big firms.

The Alberta Pool was merged out of existence in the late 1990s. It’s believed the resultant firm, Agricore, went on the dispose of the building about this time or soon after. Ever since it’s been owned by a local farmer who uses it for grain storage. It’s still wears Pool colours.

As you can see mergers and acquisitions are the norm in the industry – the lawyers were sure kept busy. This, however, does make it hard to keep track of it all.

In the past one could find other elevators in Brant belonging to such notable firms as Pioneer Grain, Parrish & Heimbecker, a second Pool Elevator and others. All were gone by the end of 1980s.

In the 1930s, the peak, there was just shy of eighteen hundred wood grain elevators in the province. Now there’s some two hundred and fifty left. A few are still commercially used, some are abandoned or in museums and many survive thanks to farmers who purchased them (often cheaply) for grain storage. They work well in that capacity. Wood elevators were built to a number of common plans and sizes up to the 1970s and 1980s. Since then massive grain terminals, constructed of steel or concrete (or both) have taken over. We lose more wood elevators every year, and the prairies are poorer for it.

The siding that passes in front of the elevator is used by a local feed distributor. They offload cars just down the track and sometimes if there’s enough of them they’re spotted out front of the elevator giving the illusion they’re here for loading. While snapped away a number of trucks left that facility after being filled. You can see the “car shaker” atop a gantry used in the offloading in one pic.

Brant was founded in in the early 1910s with the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway. At one time there was over a hundred people living here, now it’s perhaps a couple dozen or so. There are no stores or retail businesses in Brant. Trains still pass through town, some four or so per day on average we’re told heading to Calgary or Lethbridge and points beyond – it’s a secondary line. We hoped for one to show, but had no luck. The feed distributor gets fresh loads every week or so.

Soon the sun sets, one photo-op before it dips below the horizon. Then it’s vibrant colours in the sky – the oranges and reds and soft hues of blue – for a minute or three. It’s always a bonus when Mother Nature cooperates.

More farmer owned elevators…
Skiff Alberta ex-Parrish & Heimbecker.
Alberta Wheat Pool Menaik.
Prairie Sentinels – Cadillac Saskatchewan.
Prairie Sentinels – Delia Alberta.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: January, 2017.
Location: Brant, AB.
Article references: Book – Wheat Country, A History of Vulcan and District, Alberta Wheat Pool Records (and those of Federal and Searle Grain) @ Glenbow Archives.

Please shoot the elevator from public property. BIGDoer.com was here with permission.

As the sunsets in Brant Alberta.

The building is (perhaps) close to 100 years old.

Today it’s owned by a local farmer – truck leaves a feed distributor.