Hard Labour 1: Unloading Fertilizer Bags

Elevator work is hard labour. Unloading bagged fertilizer was  very hard work. many elevators sold fertilizer and chemicals as part of the elevator business. Prior to fertilizer being sold in bulk in later years, they were sold in 50 pound bags. They were delivered to the elevator by a semi-truck load or by train box car.

At one elevator the fertilizer shed was beside the rail tracks and the box car was positioned in front of the shed. The shed floor was much lower then the box car making for a steep decline. Two planks were laid down from the box car to the shed. The fertilizer bags were stacked 13 or 14 bags high on the box car and then piled that high in the shed. A hand cart was used that could hold seven or eight bags to cart them across the ramp. Usually the load was  5  or 6 bags.

The tricky task was to drive the loaded cart done the planks without tipping or driving off the edge. There was 300 to 400 pounds on the cart. This was manageable except for the spillage of fertilizer. Many fertilizer bags had loose fertilizer in the creases on the end. Some bags had holes or were ripped when loaded. This meant there was fertilizer on the floor and very hard to sweep clear, though we tried. They were like very small ball bearings making traction difficult.

Hard Labour 2: Cleanning Out the Boot

There are many dirty and heavy labour jobs in the elevator- none worse than cleaning out the boot.The dreaded job in the grain elevator was cleaning out the boot. It is a common bond with elevator agents and their families. 

After the farmers’ truck load of grain was weighed on the truck scale, the grain was dumped through metal grates into the pit. The pit was hoppered so the grain would slide toward the leg. The wooden leg was a leather conveyor belt with tin cups, housed in a wooded structure, which took the grain to the top of the elevator where it was disbursed into the proper bin. The boot was at the bottom of the leg, the lowest point in the elevator and the base of the converyor belt where the grain enetered the leg. Bearings were located here. There was always heavy chaff and dust build up which could not be allowed to get so deep as to cover the bearings as it would pose a fire risk.

 Access to the pit was gained though a trap door on the main floor beside the leg. This door had leather for the hinges and handle. A ladder descended into a dark, shaft to the dust filled pit about 15 feet below. A trouble lamp was lowered in and the agent  would climb down the ladder. A helper would lower a five gallon pail into the pit  to scoop up the dust and load the pail. The pail would be raised by the  rope, and this was repeated until clean. Cleaning the boot alone meant many trips up the ladder. The fine dust was overwhelming. Many agents  didn’t use masks or goggles in the early years.

Picture is of the bottom of the boot.

"Boot Door" with leather strap

Tools of the elevator agent

Two of the main tools the elevator agent used was a shovel and the "scoop".Shoveling grain is a primary job in the elevator. When elevator agents retired the farmers often held a pot luck in the community hall and presented him with a shovel that they had all signed. This picture is of a retirement shovel.

The "scoop" was usually made from a sawed off broom handle and a tin can screwed to one endThe handle was crudely flattened with a jack knife so the can would sit flat. When the farmer brought in a load of grain they would dump the grain into the pit. As the grain comes out of the end gate of the truck box samples of the grain are collected with the scoop and put in a pail. The samples are then gathered for each load the farmer is dumping, mixed in the pail and the grain is sent away to be graded. The grade represents the quality of the grain and the higher the quality the more the grain was worth. Farmers often would carefully observe the taking of the samples and would be quick to object if they thought the sample wasn't representative of the load. The sample was taken by the "scoop".

How the Elevators Got Their Colour



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.

The Story of the Injured Owl and the Seed Cleaning Plant

The second floor of many grain elevators housed the seed cleaning plant. These plants weren’t used very often after the early years of the elevator. The second floor had windows on each side and a very high roof, probably 20 feet. The second floor was not used. Owls were frequent visitors to the elevator.

The Outhouse

Outhouse:

Country elevators did not have running water for most of their 100 year existence. In later years, around the 1990’s, those few that were modernized were equipped with bathrooms. Oddly, computers and bathrooms were introduced to the country elevator about the same time. Therefore, outhouses were intimate out buildings of the country elevator.

The outhouse was admired for its structure. It was a classic design.