Grain Elevators at Carbon Alberta

The grain elevators of Carbon Alberta were in a scenic setting at the edge of town, and the emphasis is on once. They’re all gone now and vanished decades ago. That’s even if our memory insists it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed. Where they stood is present day an empty field with scant evidence that they ever existed. The “Then” photo is from 1977 and comes from a friend, Henry Niznik (thanks Henry).

Fast forward forty five years and we’ve come to stand close to the spot where Henry captured his image long ago. We’re going to do our best to duplicate it in angle and composition, to show how things have changed. The hills are timeless, but otherwise…well…you’ll see. Can’t quite say, but it looks different and it’s as though something’s missing…

Carbon was founded in the early 1910s and presently is home to about five hundred folks. Bucking the trend and unlike many other prairie towns, the population hasn’t decreased much since the old days. In the mid-1920s when it reached its peak, it was around six hundred and change.

The lay of the land meant the railway had to skirt the edge of town to the southwest and it’s unseen in the photos. It’s off camera and to the right. The location is a little valley set below the plains, and the road behind us heads up to the flatlands above.

The Canadian Pacific Railway’s branch line though town ran from a point just east of Calgary and into the Drumheller area coalfields. This was the CPR’s Langdon Subdivision built in fits and starts in the 1920s and pulled up at various times in the 1980s and 1990s. The section through Carbon lasted from 1921-1997 and in later years the track ended here.

Coal was a big commodity moved on the line, including some from mines in the Carbon area. These were generally smaller operations than those out east by Drum, but still significant in output. A lot of grain was handled as well and pretty much exclusively after the coal market dried up in the 1960s. For the last few decades, it was a sleepy grain branch and with the occasional busy period during peak demand.

Now it’s just an empty roadbed snaking across the plains and has obliterated in some places.

The grain elevators date variously from the 1920s-1960s period and all were demolished about the time the rail line was pulled up.

Grain elevators often change hands, and sometimes with such frequency that it’s hard to keep track of things. When the old photo was captured, the Alberta Wheat Pool building (in blue-green) kept company with two elevators belonging to United Grain Grower (in white) and another from Pioneer Grain (orange). These were some of the bigger, well known players in the business at the time and each had an extensive network of elevators in the province. Only Pioneer by name is still around, as Richardson Pioneer.

As you can see, each firm had company colours not shared with any other firm. This is so they’d stand out against their competitors. Later the white UGG elevators became Pool properties and were repainted.

Two of the elevators are twinned, that is a second elevator was built beside the first and functionally they operated as one. The bigger twin is typically the newer addition. All of the elevators included annexes – those long low structures – which were later additions and put in when extra capacity was needed.

You can see some railcars on the elevator siding and these appear to be a mix of old grain boxcars and more modern hoppers. When Henry shot his photo, it was a sort of transition period.

Hoppers were more efficient and of higher capacity. Each year there were less and of the boxcars which they replaced. These hopper all appear to be government of Canada Grain Cars in the then current brown and yellow scheme. These “Trudeau Hoppers”, were put in during the 1970s-1980s period (when Trudeau senior was in power) and this was a time when the railways were reluctant to purchase their own cars. Grain didn’t pay well, so no railway was willing to make the investment and left it up to the feds to do something.

Some of these old hoppers are still in service (maybe even one or two from Henry’s picture) but not for much longer we suspect. They’re well past retirement age, yet some remain in use.

At some point a second track was put in beside the elevators. That’s so two lines of cars could be filled at once, but we think it was after Henry’s visit. It’s hard to tell from this angle. We visited in the 1990s and this extra siding was in place then.

There was considerably more snow on Henry’s visit than ours, but winter in Alberta is unpredictable sometimes. One week there’s nothing, and on the next you’re buried up to your neck. Then the wind comes and blows it all into the next county, along with your cat and any lawn furniture not tied down.

Henry has provided us a number of old photos he captured in the 1970s for use in this series. Most show some kind of railway or grain elevator scene (score!), but there’s a good mix of other stuff. We’ll posting these over the next while. Here’s one we shot already: Down by the Tracks Okotoks Alberta.

Most of his photos were shot on a square format Instamatic camera and so one consideration we’ve made is cropping them to fit the frame in use. Otherwise they’re unchanged.

If you have an old photo you’ve taken, or from a family collection you think would work well like this, be sure and contact us. We’re always looking for fresh subjects and we can fill you in on what types work best. Not all do.

Now it’s time to say goodbye to Carbon, for now, but we’ll be back. It’s a cool little community. Reports of a stranger sighted in a yellow jacket came in from all over the community and then the RCs found us and ask we leave. Run out of town…again!

Dig deeper (new tab): Carbon Alberta Grain Elevators.

Stop by often to enjoy new and interesting content posted regularly.

They’re saying…

”Looking forward to what you find on your adventures in and around Alberta.” Braat Tracy (us too!)

Then & Now time!…
Main Street Slocan BC – What a change!
Wrentham Alberta 25 Years Apart – More grain elevators.
East Coulee Alberta then and now – Down at the Atlas Mine (there’s a grain elevator too).

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: contact us!

Date of Adventure: February 1977 and January 2022.
Location: Carbon, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Henry Niznik (for the “Then” photo) and the book: Carbon – our history, our heritage.

A scene in Carbon Alberta in the 1970s and today.

There’s that yellow jacket again.

The elevators stood in this field.