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Elevators Celebrate 100 Years
You can take a tour of the world’s last remaining row of standard country grain elevators at the Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site in Manitoba. Four of the five restored elevators were built in 1922 so this year is Inglis’ centenary celebration celebrating the “barley capital of the world”.
    “We were the end stop for one of the railroad lines, so people trucked their grain here,” says Judy Bauereiss, chair of the Inglis site volunteer committee.
    The elevators were used until 1995 when the railways and companies that owned them abandoned them. Local residents recognized the elevators’ historical significance and started painting them and preserving them right away. Interest waned after a few years but was revived in 2010.    
    Costs for repairs, paint and labor added up to $80,000 per elevator so it took a few years to finish all of them. For restoration of one of the elevators, welcome help came from a Canadian native, Stu Breckon, who was the son of a UGG grain agent who had moved to Texas. He offered his crew of eight men “older than dirt” with ties to UGG to buy the paint and restore the UGG elevator. Inglis residents provided room and board for a week while the work was done.
    The historic site is always open to the public for self-guided tours on the outside. During the summer, paid student staff offer guided tours for visitors.
    “You can see all the equipment that was used, the grate that horses came in on, and the manlifts. You can go into a restored bin to see how they are constructed. The annex has a kiosk,” Bauereiss says. “Typically, we conduct 800 tours a season (June-early September, 7 days a week).”
    Large groups should call ahead, she suggests. Tour cost is $10/person for one to nine people or $7.50/person for groups of 10 or more.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site, Railway Ave., Box 81, Inglis, Manitoba R0J 0X0 Canada (ph 204-564-2243; iahc@mymts.net; https://ingliselevators.com).


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2022 - Volume #46, Issue #4