Grain Elevators

Vulcan, Alberta was once world famous for it's "Nine-in-a-line" row of Grain Elevators

October 5, 1928: “The distinction of being the point in the British Empire from which the largest number of bushels of grain is shipped direct from farm to rolling stock belongs to Vulcan, Alberta. Last year, Vulcan shipped two and quarter million bushels of grain …” Wheat Made Vulcan

Wheat has been the economic mainstay of Vulcan since the first decade of the 29th Century.

A record of grain shipments shows that Vulcan and district can lay claim to being the largest primary wheat-shipping point in the world.

At times, other elevator points in western Canada have exceeded the amount of wheat shipped from Vulcan, but on average, Vulcan has the bragging right to itself the “World’s Largest Primary Grain Shipping Point

Grain Elevators

In 1911, Terwilliger Company built Vulcan’s first grain elevator; see Town History first grain elevator; it had a capacity of a mere 20,000 bushels. Other grain handling companies quickly followed and by the early 1920s Vulcan boasted an impressive row of nine elevators with a total storage capacity of 750,000 bushels.

The town’s famous “nine-in-a-line” was publicized far and wide. Pictures of the elevators graced the pages of national magazines. Implement and grain trade magazines, newspapers, and even calendars.

However, in 1927, the Alberta Pacific Grain Company elevator was destroyed by fire, reducing the famous “nine-in-a –line” to the “big eight”. Nevertheless, the storage capacity increased as elevators were twinned and annexes built.

To handle the bumper crops of the 1950s Vulcan’s elevators grew to a storage capacity of 2,200,000 bushels

The demolition of grain elevators is a great loss for Prairie towns.

Today, three high throughput terminals grace Vulcan’s skyline. The famous “nine-in-a-line” row has been demolished to make way for these modern grain-handling facilities.

AgPro Grain Elevator

The three inland terminals, AgPro, Pioneer and Parish& Heimbecker, can handle up to 55,580 tonnes.

While the demolition of Vulcan’s famous skyline is sad, the CPR rail line, the only direct line between Calgary and Lethbridge, still passes through Vulcan.

With a hinterland radius of 200 kilometres, Vulcan is well positioned to maintain its long-standing record of grain shipments. Credits: Vulcan and District Museum, Vulcan

When entering or leaving town one will often see a train pulled up along side the Vulcan grain elevators. Enjoy seeing trains, take a look at model trains at Train days

Alberta Elevators

On a very cool and cloudy morning on my way to Calagary the sun was shinning on these three elevators at Mossleigh, Alberta

Thanks to Gord for submitting a great close-up picture of the Mossleigh elevators.

Many prairie towns no longer have their elevators and these pictures are worth a thousand words. A part of our history that will soon be gone forever.

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