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| 2012 Vacation Transport |
It was the summer of
2012. Our destination was a fiddle festival near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We
accumulated spectacular memories as we travelled from Campbell River, British
Columbia through the interior of BC, all the way through Alberta and into Saskatchewan.
Along our secondary road route, my husband, Frank, and I paid
special attention to the grain elevators also known as prairie
sentinels.
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| Chauvin, AB Grain Elevator |
Along Highway 14 East, we turned south on secondary road 610
to seek out a place to have breakfast in the great outdoors. At once we were
taken with their grain elevator and took several photos. The town of Chauvin sits alone now because the
railway grain transporter cars no longer stop there.
Afterward, we headed north and came across two other isolated
grain elevators. One with the name Gotze
and the other with Butze painted on
the side. Later, the secondary road number changed to 680 as we passed over the
Alberta Border to Saskatchewan.
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| Butze, AB Grain Elevator |
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| Marsden, SK Grain Elevator |
We continued to drive north east to Marsden where we came across a working prairie cathedral. We spoke
to the grain elevator operator and commented on their decline. He agreed that
there weren’t many of the wooden structures left.
“I’d always hoped that some of them would be converted to a
museum,” Frank said.
“Well sir, you’re in luck. Just less than an hour’s drive
west of here, Paradise Valley has a huge museum right in the elevator,” he
said.
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| Paradise Valley, AB Grain Elevator |
After we learnt directions, we travelled northwest to reach
the Paradise Valley prairie
cathedral. We arranged with the local keeper of the key to let us in and we
walked up a gently sloped wooden spiral platform viewing the history of that
particular elevator and the times in which it existed. We stayed at the local
campground that night and enjoyed the stark drama of an Alberta rain storm with its crackling lighting and booming thunder.
If you are interested in grain elevators, here’s a good
source.
