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They're Preserving Grain Elevator History
Nostalgia and a desire to honor a big part of rural Saskatchewan’s landscape led 81-year-old Einar Franson to build scale models of nine different grain elevators. He displays them along the road that passes by his property near High River, Alta.
    Before retiring, Franson was a grain buyer who moved often. Each of his three children was born in a different location, so replicas of elevators from those towns are special to him. He also replicated an elevator from the town of Colonsay, Sask., that his father helped build in 1912.     
    He started building the 1/12th scale replicas about 4 years ago and enjoys the challenge of each project from start to finish. Often his biggest hurdle is locating full view photos of the drive sheds.
    “If I know how many bushels it held, I can determine the size, but it’s hard getting good photos of the front of the elevator,” he explains. “The office is often hiding the part I need to see.”
    Photos are usually taken of the roadside view of the elevator and not the driveway where the grain is unloaded. That makes it difficult to figure out where doors and windows were located.
    Franson uses old elevator tin, scrap lumber, and cedar shingles to build his models.
    “The details take a long time, like painting the letters and the panes onto the Plexiglas windows,” he says. Franson spends up to 250 hours on each elevator.
    He’s not finished yet as he would like to build seven more elevators, including one built in Fleming, Sask., in 1895, that burned down a couple of years ago. He’s in the process of gathering photos and making plans.
    “I just wish I was younger and had more time,” he says.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Einar Franson, Box 26, Site 2, RR3, High River, Alta. T1V1N3 Canada (ph 403 652-7740).



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2011 - Volume #35, Issue #6