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Country Elevators (Manitoba) | Sources
This Winnipeg-based grain company was established in 1909 by Howard Douglas McLaughlin (with his brother Walter S. McLaughlin) who came to Winnipeg in 1902 via Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both brothers were also Licensed Grain Commission Merchants and Licensed Track Buyers of Grain.
In 1929, the company was merged with its 48 elevators into Federal Grain Limited — the McLaughlin Elevator Company was already controlled by Henry Sellers, one of the architects of Federal Grain in the late 1920s (Anderson). The McLaughlin brothers were also part owners of McLaughlin-Ellis Limited.
McLaughlin Elevator owned at least 87 different elevators from 1911 to 1929 as it slowly grew by building and buying as well as selling elevators — which was the model followed by many companies. Prior to 1911 the picture is unclear, but the company did sell three Manitoba elevators (at Lenore, Manson, and McAuley) to the Manitoba Elevator Commission in 1910. In 1911-1912, the company owned twelve elevators including three in Manitoba at Cartwright, Cypress River, and Glenboro, in addition to those at Creelman, Drinkwater, Plenty, Rocanville, Tyvan, Welwyn, Salvador, Tantallon, and Wilcox in Saskatchewan.
Between 1911 and 1925, McLaughlin Elevator owned an annual average of just over 19 elevators with a range from 12 to 22 making it a medium-sized company. These were mostly located in Saskatchewan with five in Alberta and six in Manitoba (the three from 1911 plus Meadows in 1914, Portage in 1922, and Benito in 1926). From 1926 to 1929, when the company was merged into Federal Grain, the annual average number owned had risen to circa 45 after McLaughlin bought 18 elevators from Harold George Dawson’s Canada West Grain Company in 1926 and added nineteen more elevators mostly by building new elevators (one was purchased, at Hilda, Saskatchewan) from 1926-1929. The company also sold some of the elevators they built during this latter period – 7 to the Saskatchewan Pool, one (Glenboro) to Manitoba Pool, and one to Pioneer Grain (at Melfort Siding).
This change in company model came about almost certainly as result of the influence and investment of Henry Sellers who had control of McLaughlin Elevator by the late 1920s. Sellers also had a controlling interest along with John Charles Gage in the Brooks Elevator Company (which was also merged into Federal), as well as organising the Northwestern Terminal in Fort William (along with Gage and Douglas McLaughlin) which was also merged into Federal Grain. He became one of the major founders of Federal Grain in 1929 along with Gage and James Stewart. It is not entirely clear why he gained control of McLaughlin Elevator, but he certainly intended it to become part of the Federal colossus. The Canada West elevator purchase and the building programme from 1926-1929 must have been expensive, but presumably possible for Sellers to finance.
After leaving the grain trade, around 1930, Howard Douglas McLaughlin established the Winnipeg-based firm Western Gypsum Products Limited, serving as its President until his death. The fate of his brother Walter S. McLaughlin is unknown.
Location
Rail
Opened
Capacity
(bushels)Comments
Benito
1926
30,000
Bought from Canada West Grain (1926)
Cartwright
c1912
25,000
Cypress River
c1912
30,000
Glenboro
c1912
25,000
Lenore
1902
30,000
Sold to Manitoba Elevator Commission (September 1910)
Manson
1905
30,000
Sold to Manitoba Elevator Commission (October 1910)
McAuley
1905
25,000
Sold to Manitoba Elevator Commission (September 1910)
Meadows
1914
30,000
Portage la Prairie
?
1922
?
Sevick
1920
30,000
Built by Victoria Elevator (1920), sold to Canada West Grain (1923), (1926)
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Howard Douglas McLaughlin (1878-1949)
Manitoba Business: McLaughlin and Ellis
Grain: The Entrepreneurs by Charles W. Anderson, Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer, 1991.
“Buying elevators,” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 September 1910, page 10.
This page was prepared by John Everitt and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 May 2024
