Manitoba Business: Searle Grain Company

Link to:
Presidents | Vice-Presidents | Country Elevators | Sources

In August 1929, the Searle Grain Company was incorporated through the merger of several smaller companies: Home Grain Company, Saskatchewan Elevator Company, Searle Grain Company, and Liberty Grain Company. Around 1938, it acquired the Saskatchewan elevators of the Standard Elevator Company.

At its height, the company operated 315 country elevators across the three prairie provinces with a cumulative storage capacity of 12 million bushels. It also controlled the Searle Terminal Grain Company that operated a grain terminal at Fort William [now Thunder Bay], Ontario.

In 1966, it merged with Federal Grain to form Canada’s largest privately-owned grain company.

Chairmen

Period	Chairman
1934-1956	Augustus Leach Searle (1863-1955)
1956-1967	Stewart Augustus Searle (1897-1977)

Presidents

Period	President
1929-1934	Augustus Leach Searle (1863-1955)
1934-1949	Norman Lawrence Leach (1876-1949)
1949-1956	Stewart Augustus Searle (1897-1977)
1956-1967	Augustus Searle Leach (1909-1993)

Vice-Presidents

Period	Vice-President
1929-1934	Norman Lawrence Leach (1876-1949)
1929-?	James Miller Gilchrist (c1885-1971)
1934-1949	Stewart Augustus Searle (1897-1977)
1949-1956	Augustus Searle Leach (1909-1993)
1956-1967	Stewart A. Searle Jr.

Treasurers

Period	Treasurer
1929-?	Stewart Augustus Searle (1897-1977)

Secretaries

Period	Secretary
1929-?	D. N. Potter
c1960	Morton Miller

Country Elevators (Manitoba)

Location	Rail	Opened	Closed	Capacity (bushels)	Comments
Alcrest	CNR	1946	1946	60,000
Angusville	CNR	1929	1966	110,000	New elevator (c1929), destroyed by fire (1934), new elevator (1934)
Arborg	CPR	1929	1966	80,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Benito	CNR	1929	1966	68,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Birch River	CNR	1947	1966	116,000
Bowsman A	CNR	1942	1966	91,000	Bought from Canada West Grain (1942), sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Bowsman B	CNR	1952	1966	25,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Dauphin A	CNR	1929	1966	46,000	Built (1918), acquired from Liberty Grain (1929)
Dauphin B	CNR	1951	1966	22,000
Deacon South (Mile 142.4)	CNR	1964	1967	100,000
East Selkirk	CPR	1938	1968	30,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Ebor	CPR	1929	1965	26,000
Erickson	CNR	1929	1966	71,000
Garland	CNR	1934	1966	36,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Libau	CNR	1947	1966	92,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Lower Fort Garry	CPR	1940	1966	38,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Minitonas A	CNR	1940	1966	115,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Minitonas B	CNR	1951	1966	35,000
Riverton	CPR	1937	1966	27,000	Sold to Federal Grain (1966)
St. Boniface (Nicholas Avenue)	CPR	1941	1966	406,000	Seed cleaning plant sold to Federal Grain (1966)
Searle	CNR	1946	1966	251,000
Swan River	CNR	1942	1966	136,000	Replaced by new elevator (1961), repainted as Federal Grain (1966), sold to Manitoba Pool (1972)
The Pas	CNR	1948	1966	36,000

See also:

The Searle Grain Company and Manitoba Handweaving, A Program of Imaginative Philanthropy by Janet A. Hoskins
Manitoba History, Number 6, Fall 1983

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Van Horne Farm / Searle Farm (RM of St. Clements)

Sources:

“Huge grain merger planned here,” Winnipeg Free Press, 26 July 1966, page 1.

Grain: The Entrepreneurs by Charles W. Anderson, Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer Publishing, 1991.

We thank John Everitt for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 23 March 2024