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A lonely barn beside a wheat field near Trochu, Alberta
A grain elevator and tractors on the prairie near Bents, Saskatchewan
The "Five Prairie Giants" after restoration
The "Five Prairie Giants" in Inglis, Manitoba, around 1998 before being restored
A truck that's seen better days—but hasn't lost its character
A classic wooden-wheeled wagon in Rosenhof, Saskatchewan
Photos and Story by Mike Grandmaison
As I travel across the Canadian prairies in search of scenic photo opportunities, I’m amazed and saddened by the number of ghost towns, abandoned farm homes and dilapidated grain elevators—lost to the climate, the economy and the evolution of society. Yet they draw me in. I wonder about the lives lived inside those walls, where that old car was driven, what mysteries might lie behind that old tractor or grain elevator.
These forgotten buildings have character and stories to tell that are all their own. Most timeworn prairie buildings I find are constructed of wood, but sometimes I’m lucky enough to discover an old farmhouse made of brick and fieldstone. As long as I don’t see a “No Trespassing” sign, I’ll investigate an abandoned farmstead—cautiously, keeping an eye out for nails sticking out of boards, fence wire strewn about, hidden holes, wasp nests and other hazards.
I’m also mindful that someone probably owns the property. For that reason alone I respect my surroundings and leave everything as it is. I’m flabbergasted by how much theft and pillaging goes on, even if these lonely properties are seemingly abandoned.
But a growing interest in preservation means that not everything I find is shabby or neglected. In the town of Inglis, Manitoba, for example, a row of grain elevators known as the Five Prairie Giants rises up majestically. This quintet, one of the last standing rows of its kind in the world, has been refurbished and preserved as the Inglis Grain Elevators National Historic Site.
Internationally recognized as an enduring architectural symbol of the prairies, the row represents an important period in the development of Canada’s grain industry. Between 1900 and 1930, the number of grain elevators on the prairie exploded from 450 to nearly 6,000. Today, in the shadow of enormous modern elevator complexes, only about 850 of those thousands remain.
Four of the five giants have been standing since 1922, when the now-abandoned Canadian Pacific rail line began running to the newly created village of Inglis. Grain shipments from Inglis ended in 1995, but the community wasted no time in acting to preserve these reminders of its heritage.
On a recent journey to the Saskatchewan prairie I met one of my wife’s cousins while shooting photographs for my new book Prairie and Beyond. (Learn more about the book at turnstonepress.com.) He still works the Bolton Farm in Baljennie, which his great-grandfather John William Rayner established in 1903 after emigrating from England. I spent a couple of days exploring the property’s old buildings and machinery while Cousin Bill shared fascinating details about the family history—including the wooden floors that my mother-in-law hand-painted on the old farmstead back in the 1940s.
At a recent showing of my traveling photography exhibition, also called “Prairie and Beyond,” I met a woman who had worked in one of the two old grain elevators in Bents, Saskatchewan. The one that’s still standing is depicted on the cover of my book. It was a delight to hear her story—one of many evoked by these beloved symbols of old-time life on the prairie.
For many of us, these icons of the open prairies elicit a deep sense of nostalgia, and they call out to be preserved. For as Jamaican political leader Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”