Elbow Elevator Fundraiser 2024

Jeffery Straker outdoor concert billed as the "Prairie Skyscraper Concert Series"  

$1305 was raised!  We thank all of the many volunteers that made this concert in the park a success!

 

Elbow

Article by Don Herperger

Published Online September 19, 2012

Last Edited March 4, 2015

The first settlers appear to have been ranchers.  By 1903, settlers were taking up homesteads near Elbow, and by the end of the decade, lands in Elbow were extensively occupied.  The CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, which arrived in 1908, has accounted for the continued existence of the village.  THe level of activity in the community increased with the long-anticipated South Saskatchewan River Dam Project in 1958.  The completion of Gardiner Dam and Qu'Appelle Dam a decade later, created Lake Diefenbaker, which provides irrigation and recreation in the area, making Elbow a popular tourist destination.

Grain Elevators of Canada

Photo by Adam Bouvier

There is one grain elevator remaining in Elbow, Saskatchewan.  It was built in 1913 and was owned by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool until it was sold to the Village in 2007.  The elevator was upgraded in 1957 and received new scales in 1974.  As part of the sale, the Pool removed the annex and did some repairs and reshingling before transferring the elevator to the Village.  

The Red Tin Roof was added in the 2021.

Elbow Elevator History as taken from the "Elbow View" newspaper published summer 2007.

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool's "A" elevator was built in 1913 by the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company with a 30,000 bushel storage capacity.  It was purchased by the Pool, then known as the Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Limited with its elevators operated by by the Saskatchewan Pool Elevators Limited, in 1926, along with the other holdings of the co-op elevator company.

It was rebuilt in 1957 with wood siding and a 50,000 bushel capacity.  A frame annex was added in 1952 for an additional 35,000 bushels capacity.  A permanent crib annex was built in 1965 adding another 88,000 bushel capacity.  The frame annex was later closed.  The new elevator had a single elevating leg. 20-ton receiving scale and a 3-ton shipping scale added in 1974.  The B elevator was built in 1928 with cedar siding and 30,000 bushel capacity.  It had  23,000 bushel frame annex added.  C was also built around 1928 and had a 27,000 bushel capacity.  It too had a frame annex added, this with 25,000 bushel capacity.  Both were purchased by the Pool from Federal Grain Limited in 1972.  After their closure, the C elevator was demolished, then in 1999, B found the same fate.

For as long a Lake Diefenbaker has been in existence, the Elbow elevators have guided many a sailor to shore, giving them the fond name "The Prairie Lighthouse".