The Val Marie Elevator: A Living Heritage Project

W O O D E N C R I B G R A I N E L E V AT O R S I N S A S K ATC H E W A N Ali Piwowar ooden crib grain elevators are important architectural icons within Saskatchewan’s evolving culture. On a large scale, they are a product of the co-operative agricultural economy and national rail network that shaped the province of Saskatchewan and Canada as a nation. On a small scale, the elevators are an architecture that has evolved from functionality to monumentality, deeply rooted in the identities of prairie communities and their people. The wooden elevators are important because they – perhaps more than any other building, site, or artifact – illustrate tangible and intangible cultural heritage of agriculture in Saskatchewan for individuals, communities, and the entire province.

The grain elevators played – and continue to play – two distinct, yet equally important roles for prairie people. Originally, they were built to weigh, clean, and store grain from the farmers in the area. Out of this fundamentally functional characteristic, the metaphysical role of the grain elevators emerged.

The sheer size and verticality of the wooden structure, and its siting within a village, town, or hamlet, fostered a sense of identity for the people living and working within its horizontal environs. It became a landmark for farmers, townspeople, travellers, railroad engineers, and pilots, thus contributing to its cultural influence and monumentality. However unintentional this monument was, it is impossible to deny the cultural significance of the rural elevators (Flaman).

Grain elevators are built forms that characterize the agricultural history of the prairies. Some have referred to the structures as the most Canadian of architectural forms as they have appeared on “dollar bills, postage stamps, and as Canada’s exhibits at world fairs.” (Vervoort.). The life and death of wooden elevators in Saskatchewan parallels the trend in the province’s agricultural economics and Canada’s railway system. There is an irony in the narrative of the elevators: the same progress that brought the elevators to the prairies is what is destroying them today. Still, grain elevators have reflected, and continue to reflect, the evolution of prairie society.

The tall rectangular structure with a pitched roof is a form derived from the