MP-0000.25.445 | Wheat wagon at country elevator on the Prairies, about 1927
Wheat wagon at country elevator on the Prairies, about 1927
Anonyme - Anonymous
About 1927, 20th century
Silver salts and transparent ink on glass - Gelatin dry plate process
8 x 10 cm
Gift of Mr. Stanley G. Triggs
MP-0000.25.445
© McCord Museum
Description
Keywords: horse drawn (374) , Photograph (77678) , Transportation (2516)
Keys to History
When the grain had been threshed, it was loaded into wagons and taken to the nearest grain elevator, where it was weighed and graded (that is, its quality was determined). It was then stored in the elevator until shipment by grain car, usually Thunder Bay (then the communities of Port Arthur and Fort William) to be loaded onto ships and taken to eastern and European markets. In this picture, the wheat is being poured through the floor into a bin, where an auger (like the one in this picture, only without the metal covering) lifts it into the proper compartment in the elevator-there was a different one for each type of grain: wheat, barley, oats and specialty crops.
-
What
This group of men is unloading wheat from a wagon at a grain elevator.
-
Where
Elevators were built along the railway lines about 10 km apart. Sometimes towns grew up about them, and at other times there was just one house nearby, where the elevator operator lived.
-
When
By 1927, when this picture was taken, horse-drawn wagons were beginning to be replaced by trucks, which made faster trips and carried more grain.
-
Who
The man in the middle is probably in charge of the elevator, and the man on the right the farmer. The other three are employees of the elevator company.
Visitors' comments
Add a comment