Today we’re looking at the elevator row in Arrowwood Alberta. The date is 1997 and I’m doing some hotshot deliveries on the backside of the Siksika First Nation, not that far away. There are pump jacks inside the boundaries of the reserve and my load, spare parts, needs to be dropped off at a number of them. Thankful, after a scary run in with an out of control frothing pack of “reserve dogs” (essentially domestic dogs abandoned by their owners, who’ve turned feral) I make my way here to calmer waters to do something I’ve wanted to do for some time. That is to shoot the five elevators that stood in town.
I make my way to to the west edge of the line and shoot away. Then I realize I’m on my last frame and have no more film, so I’ll have to settle for a single shot of the elevators. How many times have I run out of film this way? Thank goodness for digital!
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Starting in the foreground, we see three elevators painted in the colours of the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP). Further down is the white one, whose owner I did not record (damn me) with the final one painted Parrish and Heimbecker (P&H). The former represents one of the big players in the industry, while the latter, one of the smaller. Both companies exist to this day, Parrish and Heimbecker as an independent company, while the AWP has been merged with other companies (several times in fact), becoming Argicore, Agricore United and finally Viterra. The AWP elevators lasted long enough to have the Agricore signs applied.
Without a doubt, at least some of these elevators had previous owners. It was not uncommon for one to change hands, through acquisitions or mergers, although I have zero data as to the lineage of these five. This invites further research, or if you are a reader of this blog and wish to add something, by all means do so (use the comment form at the bottom of this report – also see update below).
Of those seen, the the white one was gone at some time between my visit and 2001. I have seen a picture from that later date, the next oldest one I could find outside my own, and it shows it gone by that time. The others managed to last a little longer, falling at various times between 2001 and 2003. The last to go was the P&H, which looks to have stood unit fairly recently. One from this row still stands, the one in the foreground which is now privately owned.
The rail line here, along the CPR’s Lomond Subdivision, arrived in 1925 and for the next five years this was the end of steel for the branch, which took a very circuitous route in from the mainline connection at Suffield Alberta. In 1930 the line was extended further west, eventually connecting with the CPR’s Aldersyde secondary line that travelled north/south between Calgary and Lethbridge. With this new connection trains could originate further west than before, which was likely more efficient.
As was the case with many prairie branch lines, in the years that followed nothing much happened here – passenger service ended, diesels took over, but all the while grain and other commodities moved up and down the line. Near the end, grain was the only product being shipped out. Even that couldn’t last though and by the late 1990s the tracks were rarely used. They remained in place for some time after, but only for the storage of surplus cars.
Finally pulled up in 2003, a section west of here remains today, a stub travelling as far as Mossleigh (and a bit beyond), the next town west of here. It’s not exactly clear when the last grain was shipped, and I have yet to see a photo from ANY era showing ANY rail cars being loaded here. Can someone chime in on this?
While there were settlers here before the railway, it was the coming of steel that really gave birth to the town. This makes it’s a late comer in that respect. The rail line west of here, which as mentioned dates from 1930, was also a late comer and this means it was one of the last CPR lines built during the great railway boom. Starting at the early part of the twentieth century, construction of new branch lines proceeded at an incredible pace before it all ended with the coming of the great depression.
Most of the lines, the later built ones in particular, were made with wild abandon and little regard to sustained profitability. If two houses were built next to each other, it was considered a town and a such merited a rail line. A crazy statement that reflects the devil-may-care attitude of the day. In fact many lines were built before the towns, with hope that a population would soon follow the railway.
Later, I am sure the railway came to regret most of these lines, but due to government regulations, could not dispose of them until relatively recently, mass abandonments not happening until the 1990s. By then they were pulling lines up with the same furor that built them – a reverse boom.
Concurrent with that and a catalyst for the rail lines being abandoned, changes were also taking place in the grain industry and the iconic small town elevator was replaced by large inland terminals that could load a whole train in one pass.
With these losses a town also surrenders something more, its heart perhaps. Changes in the industry have been killed the very things that brought about their birth.
This picture had me thinking, throughout the 1990s at least I never saw a single train on the line or even a grain car on a siding, and I travelled the area a lot. Pictures by others from that same era never seem show anything either. Odd.
Update: December 2013. We have researched the various elevator’s lineages although we don’t have many answers. Of the three AWP elevators seen, we know they could have been built in 1924, 1925, 1928 and/or 1978 (a late one – the one in the foreground…I think). Note, we have four dates but three elevators, so one was dismantled before my visit. Of the other two elevators, we still don’t know much and research continues. We always welcome input from our readers too.
My husband ran the UGG grain elevator in 1974-1975 and then was transferred to the Brooks location. I believe the Arrowwood elevator was then closed down. It warms my heart to remember people who welcomed us to Arrowwood: Mrs. DeWitt, The Block, Browns, Siracky, Beagles, and surprisingly the other elevator operators.
I grew up in Arrowwood between 1950 and 1960. My friends and I climbed up the outside ladders to the little door at the top just for grins and giggles. When the agent went home (for lunch?), we went inside and road on the grain buckets on a huge chain loop that normally carried the grain to the top. It had no reverse so we had to climb back down. My friend, Melvin, thought it was fun to turn it back on while I was trying to climb down. Once, a train engineer allowed us to come up into the cab and ride while they turned the train around on the “Y.” They let us shovel coal into the boiler fire. My dad was the Principal of the school, taught all the high-school grades, was the minister in a church, and substituted for the bus drivers, the butcher, and the train station agent on occasion. Great memories. Thanks.
Glad this article stirred some fond memories. Wow, what an exciting, adventuresome and mischievous childhood. A bit of danger in a world of wonder. Just like your’s truly!
My great grand uncle’s daughter, Anna Maloney Hall, and her husband Frank lived in Arrowwood from about 1917 until their deaths. Anna died in 1955 and Frank in 1967. They are buried in Arrowwood Cemetery. They had a daughter Ruby Hall Hollick Dicken and they raised Anna’s sisters daughter, Elizabeth McLaughlin, after her sister, May Frances Maloney McLaughlin died 3 months after Elizabeth was born. I just found out all this great information on the websites about Arrowwood. Does anyone know this family? Thanks, Jane
yes, I knew of the family. Having been born and raised in the Arrowwood farming area, my parents were friends with Frank and Anna Hall. They lived a couple miles away and I remember visiting them and even stayed overnight in their home. One specific memory I have is that one night my sister and I stayed overnight, we listened to the coyotes howl! It seemed to go one all night long! Pretty scary for a little ones in a strange home in the dark!
Always nice to read memories of this line. I lived in the big metropolis of Arrowwood in 1962 and 1963. My father was the last CPR station agent there, when they closed the agency. At the same time, my uncle was the CP agent at Milo. As a boy in Arrowwood, the whole town was our playground and we would play bike-tag throughout the town…that is how small it was. IIRC, the train came out eastbound on Thursday and went back with a full train of grain on Friday. Sure wish I had been grown enough to have pictures of trains on this line. Across from the station was a wye, where locomotives could be turned around…a holdback more from steam days. It was quite an incline out of Arrowwood westbound, so I suspect grain was accumulated there and when a whole train was there, an extra would be sent out to lift it….just speculation on my part. Today, sadly, the tracks are gone and end just west of the county road west of town. This rail line is now part of the Aspen Crossing Railway and extends west through Mossleigh for 14 miles, where it eventually makes a connection with CP’s Aldersyde Subdivision east of Blackie. Aspen Crossing has purchased the 14 miles and is planning on running passenger excursions in 2015. If anyone has pictures of trains on this line, I would love to see them please. Regards Glen
When I was a kid we’d come to the “BIG City” of Arrowwood from our home in Queenstown every month or so for supplies. It seemed like a giant metropolis compared to our little village. Hahaha!
Come to think of it my uncle has lived next to the line northwest of Retlaw for almost two decades and the only time I’ve seen anything on it was when they pulled the line.
I’ve received emails from others and anyone who has explored the line mentioned never seeing a train on the branch or even a car on a siding. It was the Twilight Zone branch!
My great uncle used to work at the elevator in the foreground! I was only there once, in the late 1980s and it was an exciting place for a young tom-boy. Is that the one you mentioned in your post that still stands? BTW, I saw a train pass on the day of my visit!
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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My husband ran the UGG grain elevator in 1974-1975 and then was transferred to the Brooks location. I believe the Arrowwood elevator was then closed down. It warms my heart to remember people who welcomed us to Arrowwood: Mrs. DeWitt, The Block, Browns, Siracky, Beagles, and surprisingly the other elevator operators.
Thank you for sharing these awesome memories!
I grew up in Arrowwood between 1950 and 1960. My friends and I climbed up the outside ladders to the little door at the top just for grins and giggles. When the agent went home (for lunch?), we went inside and road on the grain buckets on a huge chain loop that normally carried the grain to the top. It had no reverse so we had to climb back down. My friend, Melvin, thought it was fun to turn it back on while I was trying to climb down. Once, a train engineer allowed us to come up into the cab and ride while they turned the train around on the “Y.” They let us shovel coal into the boiler fire. My dad was the Principal of the school, taught all the high-school grades, was the minister in a church, and substituted for the bus drivers, the butcher, and the train station agent on occasion. Great memories. Thanks.
Glad this article stirred some fond memories. Wow, what an exciting, adventuresome and mischievous childhood. A bit of danger in a world of wonder. Just like your’s truly!
My great grand uncle’s daughter, Anna Maloney Hall, and her husband Frank lived in Arrowwood from about 1917 until their deaths.
Anna died in 1955 and Frank in 1967. They are buried in Arrowwood Cemetery. They had a daughter Ruby Hall Hollick Dicken and they raised Anna’s sisters daughter, Elizabeth McLaughlin, after her sister, May Frances Maloney McLaughlin died 3 months after Elizabeth was born. I just found out all this great information on the websites about Arrowwood. Does anyone know this family?
Thanks,
Jane
Let’s see if anyone reading this knows…
yes, I knew of the family. Having been born and raised in the Arrowwood farming area, my parents were friends with Frank and Anna Hall. They lived a couple miles away and I remember visiting them and even stayed overnight in their home. One specific memory I have is that one night my sister and I stayed overnight, we listened to the coyotes howl! It seemed to go one all night long! Pretty scary for a little ones in a strange home in the dark!
Thanks for commenting!
Always nice to read memories of this line. I lived in the big metropolis of Arrowwood in 1962 and 1963. My father was the last CPR station agent there, when they closed the agency. At the same time, my uncle was the CP agent at Milo. As a boy in Arrowwood, the whole town was our playground and we would play bike-tag throughout the town…that is how small it was.
IIRC, the train came out eastbound on Thursday and went back with a full train of grain on Friday. Sure wish I had been grown enough to have pictures of trains on this line. Across from the station was a wye, where locomotives could be turned around…a holdback more from steam days. It was quite an incline out of Arrowwood westbound, so I suspect grain was accumulated there and when a whole train was there, an extra would be sent out to lift it….just speculation on my part.
Today, sadly, the tracks are gone and end just west of the county road west of town. This rail line is now part of the Aspen Crossing Railway and extends west through Mossleigh for 14 miles, where it eventually makes a connection with CP’s Aldersyde Subdivision east of Blackie. Aspen Crossing has purchased the 14 miles and is planning on running passenger excursions in 2015.
If anyone has pictures of trains on this line, I would love to see them please.
Regards
Glen
Glen, thank you so much for sharing your story. Fascinating!
Saved as a favorite, I like your blog! Love that elevator row!
Wow nice! I happened to drive down this line while they tore the tracks out in 2003, before I knew any better at how significant that is.
When I was a kid we’d come to the “BIG City” of Arrowwood from our home in Queenstown every month or so for supplies. It seemed like a giant metropolis compared to our little village. Hahaha!
The big city of Arrowwood, now that’s funny!
Come to think of it my uncle has lived next to the line northwest of Retlaw for almost two decades and the only time I’ve seen anything on it was when they pulled the line.
I’ve received emails from others and anyone who has explored the line mentioned never seeing a train on the branch or even a car on a siding. It was the Twilight Zone branch!
My great uncle used to work at the elevator in the foreground! I was only there once, in the late 1980s and it was an exciting place for a young tom-boy. Is that the one you mentioned in your post that still stands? BTW, I saw a train pass on the day of my visit!
Yes, that one is still there! Thanks for posting.