Link to:
Agents / Buyers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
This wooden grain elevator at Elva, on the CPR Estevan Subdivision in what is now the Municipality of Two Borders, is believed to be the oldest standard-plan elevator in Canada. Constructed in September 1897 by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, a new foundation and scale were installed around 1950, which has led some to suspect that the elevator was rebuilt at this time. However, its characteristic squat style, quite different from those of other prairie elevators, supports a contention that it is original.
The elevator became part of the Ogilvie Milling Company when, in 1954, the two companies merged. For reasons unknown, the elevator retained the original company name painted on its side. It was purchased in 1959 by the Manitoba Pool Elevators, which closed the elevator in 1968 and sold it to private interests.
A replica of the elevator was unveiled at a ceremony in September 2021.
Dismantling of the elevator, to recover its useful metal and wooden parts, began in early 2022. During this process, the wooden crib was destroyed by an accidental fire on 5 April 2022.
Period
Agent / Buyer
1897-1922
?
1922-1928
C. A. Henry
1928-1931
W. R. Archibald
1931-1932
Closed
1932-1933
W. R. Archibald
1933-1935
Closed
1935-1938
C. J. Bird
1938-1939
F. R. Young
1939-1940
F. E. Whitwell
1940-1941
E. Love
1941-1943
M. E. Morden
1943-1944
Ernest Hamilton Bedford (1894-1988)
1944-1945
M. E. Morden
1945-1946
Ernest Hamilton Bedford (1894-1988)
1946-1950
L. G. Davies
1950-1951
George Alfred Perrin (1911-1985)
1951-1956
V. A. Higgins
1956-1963
?
1963-1964
J. M. McGee
1964-1966
A. Potter
1966-1967
R. Murray Hagyard
Former Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (September 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Aerial view of the former Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (August 2019)
Source: Steve Boyko
Former Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (September 2020)
Source: George Penner
Interior of the former Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (July 2018)
Source: Suzanne Lemon
Former Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (May 2021)
Source: Desirée Rolfe
Grain elevators at Elva (September 2021)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Grain elevators at Elva (September 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Motor inside the elevator office that drove the leg (September 2021)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Replica of Lake of the Woods grain elevator at Elva (September 2021)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.21581, W101.11699
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator (Cameron, Municipality of Two Borders)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator (Harmsworth, RM of Wallace-Woodworth)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lake of the Woods Building (212 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: United Grain Growers Grain Elevator (Elva, Municipality of Two Borders)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Dobbin Family Grain Elevator (Municipality of Norfolk Treherne)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba
Record of Country Elevator Receipts, Expenses 1922-23 to and including 1955-156, Lake of the Woods Milling Company Limited, University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Ogilvie Flour Mills fonds, MSS120-L-128.
Obituary [Ernest H. Bedford], Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 1988, page 30.
Obituary [George Alfred Perrin], Hamiota Echo, 4 December 1985, page 17.
A History of Grain Elevators in Manitoba by John Everitt, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, circa 1993.
Manitoba Pool Fonds, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University.
We thank Ed Ledohowski, Suzanne Lemon, Steve Boyko, George Penner, Desirée Rolfe, Troy Angus, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 June 2022
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