I was driving down Highway 7, between Rosetown and
Swift Current, Sask., when I saw the old elevator in a farmer's field just off
the highway.
How, I wondered, did it come to be there, all alone?
As it turns out, the elevator was once on a railway
line—the old CPR McMorran sub.
Back when it was in operation, it was one of at
least two elevators in the hamlet of Thrasher, as the old photo below shows.
But today one of the elevators is gone, and the other one is abandoned, like the rail line, and like Thrasher, itself.
Many years ago, the old elevator would have been alive to the sounds of trains and the voices of farmers exchanging news, talking about the weather and complaining about the railways and the Wheat Board.
But all I heard on this day was the sound of doves cooing inside the old structure.
That and the sound of the wind, blowing the past away.
Update, 2017: The Thrasher elevator has been destroyed in a fire. Click here for info and photos.
But all I heard on this day was the sound of doves cooing inside the old structure.
That and the sound of the wind, blowing the past away.
Update, 2017: The Thrasher elevator has been destroyed in a fire. Click here for info and photos.
Nice catch!
ReplyDeleteWow the memories these photos bring back, especially the really old photo of Thrasher with both elevators and the agents' offices. I only remember there being 2 elevators. I grew up there in the 60s and 70s and that's where we hauled our grain to until Cargill came and built the big concrete terminal at Rosetown and that was the end of these little wooden grain elevators.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking these photos to preserve some very important Saskatchewan history.
I lived in Thrasher as a 5 year old boy in 1960, when my dad was the section foreman on the CPR. Our railroad house was right across the tracks from that elevator. I remember old steam locos, chugging by moving grain cars. As we had no power in our house, my mum had a gas powered washing machine. My dad would sometimes string a power cord to our house from that elevator. It was an idyllic time for me growing up there. Thanks for posting the pictures.
ReplyDeleteElevator now gone. Controlled burn 4 April 2017
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: thanks for the update. Its too bad that ,its finally gone. It always was a favourite place , for me to live. I guess I am really an orphan now ! ;) Terry W.
ReplyDelete