High school project gave Saskatchewan student an opportunity to learn about her family’s history and their community
Carmin Smith-Hanson’s documentary started out as a high school project.
But the more she learned, the more personal it became.
Her project on the history of the wooden grain elevators in Meacham, Sask., became an exploration of her family history, and it emphasized to her the former importance of elevators in the development of the West.
The last elevator in Meacham was taken down on June 8, 2021. At one point, the small town had five elevators, but like many communities across the Prairies, all of them are gone now.
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Smith-Hanson, who lives in Saskatoon, got the idea to do her project from her mother. She said the demolition of the last elevator was upsetting for many people in the community.
“I think that it was a sad moment because a lot of memories were there,” Smith-Hanson said.
“They had grown up seeing that elevator every day and it was where my grandpa went and took his hard work.”
Smith-Hanson rented equipment to film her documentary, interviewing her family members who still live in Meacham and other community members.
“I got to know more about my family’s farming history and more about Meacham. I’ve never known Meacham in depth. I just knew that my mom grew up there and my grandparents are from there, but I got to know more in depth about it.”
Smith-Hanson went to Meacham a couple of times during filming, being able to stand in the elevator before it was taken down. She said making the documentary was challenging, but she had fun.
“I’d never knew anything about (grain elevators),” she said. “So I talked to my grandpa, and he told me what they do.
“I learned what Pool (Saskatchewan Wheat Pool) was about, the co-op, and all about how grain elevators are kind of a community and a co-operative that farmers work together.”
Yvonne Hanson, Smith-Hanson’s mother, grew up in Meacham, and said it was hard to see the elevator come down but she was proud that her daughter took an interest in the community’s farming history.
“It’s a really important story to tell, especially because we have lost so many grain elevators throughout the Prairies,” Hanson said. “They represent a really important part of our agricultural history.”
Hanson said that although there are other videos that document what the grain elevators were like, Smith-Hanson’s documentary offers a different perspective.
“This is a very different perspective of a young person, a young person that was raised in the city, who also didn’t really have a full appreciation of what elevators were about, and the important part that they played in the province’s agricultural history,” Hanson said.
“And I think that she also got to be closer to not only the elevator, but the small town history. She got to interview a couple of residents of the town and learn a little bit about how the elevator demolition impacted them, and what the elevator represented to them.”
Smith-Hanson hopes people who watch her documentary learn as much as she did in the process of making it.
“I just hope that they learn more about Meacham and Saskatchewan’s history with grain elevators and how they work,” she said. “I learned a lot and I hope that they learn more about grain elevators as well and have more of an appreciation for farming.”
Smith-Hanson’s documentary can be found on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkQLX1ZiNHA.
