The Berns
Granary
The Berns brothers, Xavier and Guido, came
from the United States to the Tilston
area in 1911, following in the footsteps of their father, Henry. They
each purchased land and set themselves up as successful farmers. When
I drove into this yard, after admiring the fine 4-square home, I
noticed the distinctive roofline on this outbuilding, placed farther
back on the yard.
The building is a four compartment granary – a version of a farm
elevator, some of which still can be seen on old farm sites.
This one
had an upper compartment, from which the grain flowed through a seed
cleaning plant, and into one of the four compartments.
I feel that our history books generally ignored the wealth of
innovation evident in individual farming operations.
In this case the inventiveness may have been facilitated by the fact
that these farmer were essentially immigrants, perhaps bringing ideas
from across the border. |
