Calder’s noisy industry
Puffed wheat making must have been a major industry on the Prairies in the 1930s and 1940s. So far I’ve heard of manufacturing plants at Yorkton, Calder, Melfort and Keatley in Saskatchewan and Portage la Prairie in Manitoba.
I talked to Peter Brigidear, whose brother, Philip, operated the Calder plant from 1939 to 1942 with John Sodchuk. He said Philip had gone to the town council and got permission to make puffed wheat in a building on the community’s main street. Councilors were delighted to see a new industry.
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The company was called Prairie Wheat Puffs and it soon had the councilors wishing they hadn’t been so hasty.
Durum wheat was put in a revolving pressure chamber with sufficient water to make up 20-25 percent of its original weight.
A torch underneath heated the mix to 120 C. When the gauge indicated that point had been reached, the pressure was suddenly released. The result:
“The damnedest bang you ever heard,” said Peter.
Most farmers came to town with teams of horses and when the explosion occurred, the horses that could took off helter skelter for home.
It took seven minutes to build up pressure and then there was another bang and the puffed wheat blew into a hopper in the basement where it went into bushel bags. It was sold to individuals, stores and even some major corporations.
Beth Furtney of MacNutt, Sask., said it was a good product and a change from porridge, porridge and more porridge. It cost less than 50 cents a bushel.
Philip got fed up with long days and constant ear-shattering explosions and quit.
This marked the beginning of the end of the plant in 1942. Peace returned to Calder.
