Grain Elevator in Warren Manitoba
Take a TOUR and learn all about our towering giant! “The Sentinel”

• Individual Rate – $5 per person

• Group Rate (10 or more)  – $3.50 per person

• Contact the West Interlake Trading Company at:
  204-461-4040 for more information.

Click Here for Printable Educational Pamphlet in PDF

Exploring Warren’s Historic Grain Elevator

As you walk through the huge sliding doors you are instantly enclosed in a dark cavern-like space smelling of old wood and grain. The ceiling is almost invisible as it disappears high above in the shadow. Once both sets of sliding doors are opened wide, on the north and south ends of the tower, the light streams in and you can see that you are standing on a big grate sunk down into the floor. You realize that you are going to have to watch your step carefully in this drafty old building. Dust motes dance in the fresh air and this is surely no place for someone with grain allergies!

Inside of a Grain Elevator

The interpreter (a volunteer from the West Interlake Trading Company who cares for the old historic building) tells you all about the acquisition of the elevator. Agricore was the last operator and decommissioned it officially in 1999 but continued to sell chemical/fertilizer off of the site until about 2002. When the elevator was put onto the demolition list, the West Interlake Trading Company, together with the help of the community, worked to preserve it and make it their permanent home and in 2003 a deal with struck with Agricore to save the elevator.

The West Interlake Trading Company is a nonprofit organization. It is run by volunteers who care for the Elevator and it’s Site.

2005 marked the West Interlake Trading Company’s first season on the new site. Long-term plans are to clean up the elevator and develop it into an Interpretive Centre but at the present time, visitors to the area are so curious about it, that tours of the main floor have been started. To date, the “Site” has gone through some initial phases of redevelopment, platform construction, conversion of the Quonset into a country market and some landscaping

The elevator, built in 1948, was constructed in two separate parts. The elevator itself is the highest part of the structure and contains all its mechanics. The Annex, built in 1958, (on the northeast side of the building) is shorter and was used as grain bin storage area.

The tour starts on the 70 foot beam “scale platform” defined by the rectangular outline on the floor. This is the only part of the elevator still in operation. Local farmers use the scale to weigh loads of grain or livestock going to market. In the early days, there would have been a traditional counter scale in the office but now there is a digital display.

This platform would have been the first stop for grain that entered the building. Once on the scale the truck was weighed while full, the grain would be dumped down into the “hopper” below the grate and as the grain was being dumped, samples were taken. The elevator staff had to make sure that the grain was not too wet, because the samples taken from the grain that came out of the top of the truck might have been drier than the grain from the bottom. This was important because, grains like canola or flax seed could actually heat up in the bin if too wet (and cause a fire!) If the grain was too wet or of poor quality, the elevator probably wouldn’t accept it.

Today, most trucks have hydraulic lifts to hoist the box up and dump the grain but in the earlier days, there was probably a set of moveable ramps on the scale (that the truck could drive up on) or an old pulley system (that lifted the front end of the truck) to get the grain to slide out. After unloading, the truck was again weighed, to determine the actual bushels of grain delivered in the load.

Once in the hopper below, the grain had to be delivered up to the top of the elevator and into the bins. The “main leg” (central wooden leg with a wheel on it) did this. Until the late 70s the “leg” was operated by diesel generator after which it converted over to electric power.  As you look though the open bin door you can see the buckets on the conveyor system, you can look up and see just how high the conveyor goes. These buckets scooped the grain out of the hopper below the grate and carried it up 60 feet to the distribution floor!

There are 24 bins in the elevator/annex and the big wheel on the “leg” is labeled accordingly. Buy turning that wheel, the spout at the distribution floor could be adjusted to deliver the grain to the correct bin.

To keep track of what type and quality of grain was kept in each bin, the chalk board (right by the old hanging trouble light) was labeled. The chalk board still shows the bin layout and this, kept things well organized.

After the grain was dumped down the hopper and carried up the “leg” to the distribution floor and deposited in the appropriate bin, it was stored there until it was to be shipped out by train. The Warren Elevator was very busy (emptied and filled many times over the course of the year).

The structural integrity of Warren Elevator is still very good, and that is due to the excellent management the facility had in the past. It was very important to assure the weight of the grain was evenly distributed. As you look up, you notice that the walls are very straight. Other elevators, that perhaps weren’t as well managed, may have had a majority of the load put in bins closer to the track (for short-term convenience), in these cases, the elevators gradually tilted towards the track side.

There are levers and pulleys everywhere, but it looks like everything about the operation was very strong and simple. Everything had straightforward on/off or start/stop switches. If something broke it was easy to fix and the staff didn’t have to wait for an engineer or computer technician fix it. They could do it themselves, immediately.

The elevator’s cribbing construction is also unique. All the boards are stacked on “the flat” instead of side to side (edge to edge) and this was an amazingly strong construction technique that has stood the test of time.

As we head around the right side of the “leg” to the back of the elevator we are at the doors which open to the tracks. We can look down and see how the grain was moved out of the elevator to the trains which would have waited outside. We can also look through the window to the tracks which were used to house grain cars waiting for their load. When those cars were full and ready they were picked up by trains coming on the main track line.

In this area of the elevator there is also a set of stairs going up to the distribution floor, however there used to be a much more efficient (and exciting) way to the top. When we get back out to the scale area we can see the “man lift” this is a frame with a pulley rope. It runs up to the top of the elevator. This was used by the elevator staff to quickly check on things on the distribution floor. It was set very specifically “weighted” for the person using it and operated on a “counter weight” system.

Standing at the bottom, we can see that there was a little platform, and we can look up all the way to the top of the elevator (where the “man lift” is now fixed in place so no one can use it). If the “counter weight” was set incorrectly the “man lift” could be very dangerous and might shoot to the top or fall too quickly to the bottom on a return trip.

Prairie Dog Central Railway at Warren Station

In order to move the grain to the train, the bins had to be emptied again. (You can still see that each bin has an opening at the bottom and they are shaped to funnel the grain downwards.) The grain had to be dumped down into the bottom of the elevator and picked up by the “main leg,” dumped into the second hopper (right behind the old scale) and weighed before delivery. Then it was funneled out of the second hopper and carried up the “secondary leg” (metal cased) and out to the back of the elevator through a spout into the grain cars. In the early days, these grain cars were manually moved forward for loading (by horse or tractor) but later electric-motorized pulleys were used to move them forward. Once filled, they could be pulled by the train to market (to ports etc.).