Sweet Memories Brought Back to Life
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| INGLIS,
Manitoba – 2004 – The sweet smell of prairie
grain brings a deep sense of nostalgia and triggers memories, allowing
visitors to step back in time when the Inglis Grain Elevators National
Historic Site was the hub of activity, spring and fall. “I’m in the 1920s again,” says a recent 93-year-old man visitor as he gazes at the antique weigh scale inside the foyer of Inglis’s fully-restored Paterson Grain Elevator and takes a deep breathe of the familiar sweet smell that lingers after 70 years of service storing grain. “Everyone who comes here has some special experience,” says Inglis Grain Elevators project manager Allan Sawchuk. “These elevators are a jewel. They remind people of some distant memory, not only because of their function but because of their setting.” Inglis’s town hall is right across the street from the five elevators that run north to south along the now abandoned Canadian Pacific rail line, which once regularly carried passenger and freight trains to transport the grain to the seaport and then to markets all over the world, from this still thriving agriculture community. “I once saw a woman walking up and down the tracks, back and forth for quite sometime before I approached her to see if she was okay. She was, and I walked with her a while. It was late fall, after the harvest. A smoky haze from stubble burning in the fields hung silently in the still crisp air. It was absolutely quiet. She told me that this special place reminded her of her childhood, when she and her father walked hand in hand along the rail line collecting dry autumn flowers,” Sawchuk says. Inglis attracts people of all ages, for many different reasons. For example, the site is particularly popular with retired farm women, who were once discouraged from visiting the grain elevators because of the dust and machinery. But Sawchuk says there may have been other reasons why men wanted the elevators to remain a mystery to their wives and girlfriends. The elevators were a meeting place for farmers. During harvest, it was typical to see 20 or more grain-laden wagons waiting to unload, from morning to night. Farmers would wait their turn in the agent’s office, playing cards, drinking coffee and sometimes something stronger as they talked over business in boom times. The grain industry brought prosperity to the pioneers of the Prairies. “These elevators were central to a way of life. There were thousands of them on the Prairies. Their uniformity and efficiency in weighing, grading and storing grain was the primary reason why Western Canada was established as the “world’s bread basket”. The Inglis Grain Elevators commercial life came to an end in 1995, when the last train shipment departed from the town. The community wasted no time in acting to protect these icons, the last standing row of grain elevators of their kind in the world, from the fate of many thousands that had been demolished across the land. Many agricultural communities once had their own row of elevators, but now only the Inglis stand remains. They have been called the Prairie Giants and the Sentinels of the Prairies. They have been recognized by Canada and the Province of Manitoba for their significance and have been undergoing restoration over the past five years. Today, new generations have a hands-on opportunity to learn about the historic and cultural significance of these prairie icons. “Visitors come from all over the world,” says Sawchuk, adding that the elevators are particularly popular with Americans, Europeans and Asians, who have always identified Canada’s Prairies with these elevators. “This is what they want to see when they visit the Prairies, because there isn’t anything like it anywhere else,” he says, adding that the elevators have been restored to offer a hands-on-experience designed with school children and family groups in mind. The interpretive centre houses informative photo displays, signs and interactive exhibits, as well as videos and information for self-guided and guided tours. Sawchuk says many visitors spend hours at the site, and sometimes days, to capture the stunning shadow and light cast by the ever-changing backdrop of the rising and setting prairie sun. Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site was established in 1996 to protect and sustain this architectural symbol of the Western Canadian agriculture and the Prairies. The Regional Municipality of Shellmouth, the Historic Resources Branch of Manitoba Culture, Parks Canada and many elevator companies support the community of Inglis in the restoration of these landmark buildings. For more information contact: Allan Sawchuk Project Manager Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site (204) 564-2243 |
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