Grain Elevators of Turin Alberta

While only thirty seven years separate the photos in this Then & Now, the change has been dramatic. Our subjects today are the grain elevators of Turin Alberta and if this comparison demonstrates anything, is that nothing is forever. That’s even out in rural parts where time seemingly stands still.

A big upheaval in the grain business came a generation or so back and impacted everyone connected. En masse the elevator companies left towns all across the plains for larger consolidated facilities and removed or demolished everything before going. Adios and they were gone. Not even a goodbye. This is a long one so grab a coffee and hang on.

With the loss of the grain shipping business the railways quickly followed suit in leaving. Sometimes it happened concurrent, with everyone tripping over themselves to be first out of town. They went scorched earth on their respective infrastructure and didn’t look back.

Changes in government regulations in the 1990s acted as the catalyst and it played out with a brutal swiftness. One day it’s business as usual and the next everything’s gone. Both industries contributed to the local economy and that’s certainly a blow. It not only happened in Turin and this story could be repeated all over the grain belt.

The original image is thanks to the late Harry Palmer, a well known Calgary based photographer. He travelled the west capturing town scenes and prior to passing, gave BIGDoer.com permission to use any from his collection for this comparison series. Scroll down a bit to a link that’ll take you to another piece inspired by his work.

Turin dates from 1908-ish but really sprang to life with the coming of the railway in 1925. This Canadian Pacific grain branch ran from a mainline connection near Coalhurst (close to Lethbridge) to the end of track here at Turin. The trains came once in a while and were in no particular hurry. It’s the archetypal sleepy prairie line.

The town has a population present day that hovers somewhere around a hundred and it’s remained pretty stable over the years.

Now let’s chat about what’s seen in Harry’s photo…

It’s 1986 and the view is of a residential street looking towards grain elevator row. The railway is hidden from view from this angle and is behind the buildings. This would be a familiar scene to any flatlander and should instantly evoke memories. A response is likely to go “My town looked the same.”

There’s five elevators in view and at this point four belonged to the Alberta Wheat Pool (variously the Pool or AWP) and one to United Grain Growers. That’s it on the far right. One elevator complex is comprised of twins (two elevators joined and functionally made into one) and a couple have annexes, added at some point to increase capacity. All pretty typical stuff.

That the Pool owned so many might seem a bit strange but there’s an explanation. There were many competing elevator firms over the years, each with a network of vary sizes and the AWP managed to acquire a number. Sometimes they acquired a complete network or other times individual elevators. You’d often find many towns with more than one Pool elevator on account of this.

The history of the Turin elevators is scant and admittedly confusing. There’s holes, missing dates, incomplete records and a little conflicting data. Best we could do is piece together a dog’s breakfast for the record but it’s not definite and there’s guesswork in play.

Here’s what we know.

Elevators have stood here since the railway arrived and it’s suggest minimally that at least one seen in the Then photo is from that time. There were two fires at unspecified dates that destroyed some or most of the row, but the firms promptly rebuilt.

An Alberta Wheat Pool elevator makes mention by 1928, but possibly dates back a few years earlier. We’re using old phone book entries as a guide here and no mention is made before that date. They may have operated phone-less for a time and that’s not unheard of out in rural parts back in the day.

The Pool, founded in the early 1920s, functioned as a farmer owned cooperative and soon amassed the largest grain elevator network in the province. Which of the four elevators is the original AWP in Harry’s view is unknown.

An Alberta Pacific elevator also shows up about the same time and it too may date back as far as 1925. In the late 1960s, its parent firm Federal Grain took over the facility but not for long. In 1972 the Alberta Wheat Pool acquired a chunk of Federal (assets in this province only) and this building then became another Pool facility in Turin. Once again, it’s not known which of the four elevators it is.

Alberta Pacific Grain dates back to 1911 and had a modest network of loading points. Owned by Federal Grain since 1943 they were fully merged into the parent firm in 1967. Federal Grain came about due to an earlier merger of several minor firms in 1929 and went on to become one of the larger grain companies in the country at its peak. Mergers or acquisitions are the norm in that business and the wonky lineage of this firm proof positive of that.

The Pool in the late 1990s/early-2000s period merged with a number of competitors and the name relegated to history.

An Ellison Mills elevator makes mention in the late 1920s to 1935 period but not afterwards. The Ellison company (of Ellison Flour fame) once had a modest network of rural elevators, mostly in Southern Alberta.

So confused!

A National Grain Company elevator first shows up in the mid-1930s and vanishes from the directory by about 1960. National was a smaller player and in the 1970s their network sold to Cargill. Could National’s elevator the former Ellison facility? There’s nothing definite either way.

About the same National left, a United Grain Growers elevator shows up and remained in use here till just before the turn of the twenty-first century. In one report it’s hinted their elevator was a new build but another suggests it’s an older facility reused. So the old Ellison elevator? The time-line seems to work, but then this raises even more questions. We’re loosing track of elevators here.

United Grain Grower was a good size firm and early this century folded into a company that included its old rival the Pool.

At various times in the 1930s to 1970s period, there’s blank phone entries for many of these elevators. This might reflect closures due to downturns in business or perhaps some instances have connections to those aforementioned fires.

These leaves us a bit perplexed. We’ve definitely have more elevators than we do confirmed backstories. Posting something incomplete like this and guessing both clash with our sensibilities, but in spite of all the research, it’s all we got. Perhaps more info will come to light and if so we’ll update the post.

All the elevators display company colours in Harry’s view and for the Pool it’s that iconic blue/green and for United Grain, plain white. Each firm did this to stand out – like each tractor brand had their own. In the old days most elevators got painted a brown colour, but marketing in the 1960s figured this was a better way to different one’s self from the competition. Good for business they said.

The four Alberta Pool elevators seemed to operate as one from the 1970s on.

One of the Pool elevators vanished sometime shorty after Harry captured his shot – the one closest to the camera we think. The rest lasted into the late 1990s and the railway pulled out of Turin about this same time. The late ’90s period, in particular, is when many small town elevators were demolished and replaced by an inland terminal network. Huge inland terminals spaced far apart and often far from producers.

That long drive to deliver is a thorn in every farmer’s side. The closest terminal to Turin is not terribly distant, and in the Lethbridge area, but still all that road time. And now you need a big rig to make it pay where as before a smaller truck would do.

Fast forward to today…

Any evidence that these towering prairie sentinels ever existed here in Turin is meager at best. Their location is now a big open lot and a grassed over berm is all that remains of the railway line. The slate is wiped clean.

Note the huge grain hauler parked roughly where the elevators used to stand.

Our 2023 view still feels familiar even if most of what’s seen in the old photo is gone. That house to the right in the original pic only got demolished a year or so ago and its replacement newly built. The dwelling behind it, however, is the same today as in the old photo – that little trailer sure is nice.

The only other connection between the two eras is a concrete pad. Back then an old truck (1958 Ford from the looks of it) and some dump bodies were plopped there. Today, nature is reclaiming it.

We have no idea what building once stood here but that there’s no basement suggests some kind of business. Turin once had many stores and an equipment dealer at one time, but their locations not noted. Perhaps it’s one of them but that’s only a guess (again). FYI, the business district in Turin today comprises one general/liquor store. That’s it and it was not open on our visit.

We always try and patronize small town businesses like this, even if it’s always minor purchases, when we’re out exploring. It’s what we do.

Know more about the town and the fellow who captured the original image (new tabs): Turin Alberta and Photographer Harry Palmer.

They’re saying…

“Thank you for all the engaging write ups and pictures…you two are a national treasure!” Bonnie & Gerald McDonald.

Another comparison that used a photo from Harry…
Downtown Viking Alberta (w Harry Palmer).

Did someone say grain elevators…
Grain Elevators of Arrowwood Alberta (x2).
Grain Elevators at Carbon Alberta.
For Jim… A tribute to a deceased friend.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: 1986 (Harry Palmer) and October 2023 (BIGDoer).
Location(s): Turin, AB.
Article references and thanks: Harry Palmer, of course, the book Coyote Flats historical review, 1905-1965 1, the book Turin School Daze 1967 and the Medicine Hate & District Genealogical Society.

A scene in Turin AB 1986 and 2023 – original Harry Palmer.

The grain elevators stood right here.

The view down the “tracks”.