Canada’s oldest grain elevator on its original site is being preserved in Fleming, Sask.
Mayor Philip Hamm said the village’s 100 residents are receiving help to maintain the 111-year-old elevator on the Canadian Pacific Rail line. Local rural municipalities, grain businesses, the provincial government, neighbours and a private U.S. foundation have contributed money to renovate the elevator.
At one time the village near the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba had four elevators. One was dismantled 30 years ago while two others were taken down in 2000.
“The crew was going to demolish the fourth little one but two ladies got (United Grain Growers) to do a one year reprieve. We contacted Heritage Saskatchewan and it knew quite a lot about it,” Hamm said.
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“I’m a bit of a history buff but I didn’t know how old the elevator was.”
The surviving Fleming elevator was built in 1895 by Lake of the Woods flour milling company. Ogilvie Flour Milling acquired it in 1959, then Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and finally UGG, which stored bulk fertilizer in the facility after it stopped using it for grain storage in 1991.
Hamm said negotiations to preserve the elevator were slow. UGG, now Agricore United, extended its deadline, and negotiations with CPR proceeded at a snail’s pace.
“Agricore paid for the land and turned it over to us. If they hadn’t done that, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Hamm said the price tag for turning the structure back into a working elevator is $105,000 and a committee began raising funds.
The village received $10,000 from Saskatchewan Heritage in 2005, but had to match that. A New York foundation that is interested in preserving historic buildings, usually churches, contributed another $10,000. Saskatchewan communities received grants during the province’s centennial in 2005 and Fleming turned its $2,000 grant over to the elevator project, as did the RM of Moosomin with its $10,000 centennial grant. Money also came from the Manitoba RMs of Archie and Wallace. This year, Saskatchewan Heritage contributed another $7,500, which the U.S. foundation matched.
An historian is researching the elevator to present a case next spring for it to receive a national heritage designation.
The first stage of the renovation was to clean the elevator. Last summer windows were replaced and the roof was reshingled with cedar. A Hutterite colony in Manitoba will make steel siding to replicate what was put on the wooden structure. The 32,000 bushel capacity building had a hip roof, not the more common slope roof that became popular in 1910.
“We had to get rid of some dead animals and live pigeons,” Hamm said.
While the fertilizer had corroded most of the machinery, the concrete basement was fine as was the two by six wooden crib construction.
The Fleming elevator was cleaned by the crew that did similar work on the row of grain elevators in Inglis, Man., for a much cheaper price than other quotes.
The elevator is expected to be open next year, and Hamm is hoping the town’s location on the Trans-Canada Highway will bring many tourists.
People who wish to contribute to the project can buy tax deductible memberships in the Fleming Historical Preservation Society by contacting it at P.O. Box 69, Fleming, Sask., S0G 1R0.
