Discussions

With the settlement of the Prairies in the 1880’s, the only way to make a living was by Agriculture. Europe was increasingly becoming over crowded and was unable to grow sufficient food to feed its population. It looked to the New World to provide them with Wheat, one of the world’s most important staples, and so the Prairie Farmers took up the challenge.  
Several obstacles slowed the movement of grain from the center of a continent to the markets in Europe. Number one obstacle was transportation: in 1875 eight hundred fifty seven bushels of western wheat were bagged and loaded on a Steamboat, shipped up the Red River to Saint Paul, Minnesota, and then transported east by Train. Over the next ten years grain handling was labour intensive and slow. Farmers would haul grain loose in wagons or in grain sacks to loading platforms at the Railway Depot, it was then weighed and hand shoveled or manually lifted into a Boxcar. A grain sack would hold two bushels and weighed about 120 pounds, (54 kg.) it was a slow backbreaking operation, which limited the process to only small amounts. A single Boxcar could hold six hundred fifty sacks: therefore a farmer would spend several days at the track site loading his grain and thus neglected his farm work.  
Up to the year 1880, farmers had only existed on their farms but now they were producing so much grain that they could not handle it using their traditional primitive methods. The railway had difficulty supplying Boxcars because it took so long to fill them: the result was that the grain handling system became plugged.  
Number two obstacle was how could large amounts of Wheat be stored at the rail Depot until Boxcars were available to be loaded, and how could loading times be decreased? At first the farmers wanted individual sheds to store their grain in until they had enough to fill a Boxcar, but the Canadian Pacific Railway wanted a large structure that would take advantage of flowing grain and gravity. When the producers, shippers and buyers all realized there were good profits in handling loose Wheat, there was an instant decline in Sacked grain and an increase in demand for Canadian Wheat from other countries.  
The vertical type of grain warehouse came to be known as an Elevator, the first one to be built was in Buffalo, New York in 1841, but the first one built in the Prairies was at Niverville, Manitoba in 1879 by Mr. William Hespeler. It was a rounded silo like structure which was difficult to build, and was never copied, so the first angular design, which was a lot stronger and easier to construct was built in Gretna, Manitoba, by the Ogilvie Milling Company in 1881. It was dumpy, and square with a capacity of 25,000 bushels.  
The C.P.R. in 1881 was eager to move grain to the east. Trains that brought settlers and their effects to the Prairies could be filled with grain for the return trip, thus making profits in both directions. The C.P.R. built terminal elevators at Fort William in 1884, but could not or would not build the numbers of country elevators required to start a continuous flow of grain east. To overcome this shortfall they encouraged private companies to build alongside its rail tracks, and offered free site rentals to those building a standard type of elevator driven by a Steam or Gasoline engine. In addition the railway promised that it would not accept grain from any farmer without going through the Elevator Agent. This monopoly remained until 1900 when the Royal Commission on the Transportation of grain changed the rules.  
On September 25th, 1882 Alderman Fortier reported to Brandon City council that his Firm had purchased land close to the C.P.R. tracks to erect Brandon’s first Grain Elevator, and it was to be finished to hold that seasons crop. There is no mention of Alderman Fortier securing Tax Exemption for his elevator, but on October 2nd, the City Council granted a five year Tax Exemption to a Mr. Selby "if he would build an elevator of 40,000 bushels capacity and would complete it for that grain season."  
In 1913 specifications for a “Standard Elevator” were adopted which guaranteed the uniformity of Elevators for the next 50 years. Its dimensions were 31 feet by 33 feet with a grain capacity of 35,000 bushels. It was set on a concrete pad and had a fifteen horsepower engine for the elevator belt and buckets. A “Non-Standard Elevator” measured 34 feet by 36 feet and held 45,000 bushels, and the 55,000-bushel structure measured 36 feet by 38 feet. Before WW I the siding on the Elevator was painted Red but after the War metallic siding was installed.  
All towns had an elevator, but structures were placed eight to ten miles apart to facilitate grain deliveries from farmers, and because deliveries were made by horse and grain wagon a farmer had to be able to complete a round trip in one day.  
 
Source: Prairie Sentinel, Brock V. Silversides.