Blackie grain terminal

When I was on a birding day trip with a group of friends, going SE of Calgary on Saturday, 14 March 2015, we called in at the small hamlet of Blackie. We were hopeful that we would see at least one of the Eurasian Collared Doves that live there, and we were in luck.

While we were walking along one of the streets, we saw this massive Cargill grain terminal. Not exactly the most beautiful of structures and definitely not as photogenic as the three old, wooden elevators that apparently used to be along the railway line, just a very short distance away, but still rather impressive.

In 2004, Blackie apparently had 3 elevators, an Ex-Agricore, Pioneer and Agricore United steel elevator. The large, green, wooden elevator was torn down in 2005 and replaced by this huge, modern grain loading terminal. The other wooden elevator, the Pioneer elevator, was torn down in December 2012. It was a fairly modern, seemingly well-kept elevator. Wish I had seen these, but I hadn't plucked up courage to drive SE of Calgary back then.

"There were 1,651 elevators in Alberta in 1951, but by 1982 a total of 979 elevators remained. The 1990s spelled the death of the wooden “country” or “primary” elevator. At the end of the 1990s, as the full impact of both of the ending of the Crow Rate in 1995 and further impending rail abandonment was felt, the pace of demolition accelerated at an unprecedented rate. At the end of the 1996-1997 crop year, there were only 327 elevators left. Alberta’s largest cooperative grain companies, the Alberta Wheat Pool (which amalgamated with Manitoba Pool Elevators in 1998 as Agricore) and United Grain Growers, ultimately formed a new corporate entity known as Agricore United in 2001, issuing issued public shares. Demolition of country elevators has continued, and in 2005 there were only 156 wooden elevators of any kind still standing, only a handful of which are used by the grain trade.

The Government of Alberta has recognised the significance of the traditional wood grain elevators, and has designated 12 as Provincial Historic Resources. They are located in the following communities: Andrew, Castor, Leduc, Meeting Creek, Paradise Valley, Radway, Rowley (3 elevators), Scandia and St. Albert (2 elevators)."

www.grainelevatorsalberta.ca/articles/HRM-history.pdf

www.bigdoer.com/2848/exploring-history/grain-elevators-an...