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| Photos from Doug Panting |
At one time prairie grain elevators were CPR red in colour.
Doug Panting has written an article, Orange Appeal: The Colourful Story of How Pioneer Gave the Green Light to its Signature Shade, on how the Pioneer decided on orange. He writes about a family trip on a Victoria Day long weekend in 1962 that changed the landscape. Claude Cruikshank, Pioneer engineer and his wife, an architect, were traveling with their family in southern Manitoba. Mrs. Cruikshank asked why he couldn't do something about the appearance of the elevators, all were brick-red at the time. Panting writes that Mr. Cruikshank was joking when he asked her what colour she would paint them. She responded by pointing to her bright coloured pants which were orange. He liked the idea! Several trial elevators were painted orange and met with resistance from the elevator agents. However, the new colour was a success with grain handling and sales going up in the orange elevators and soon the agents wanted their elevators painted orange. Soon other elevators companies followed and chose colours schemes.
