The thing about grain elevators is that there aren’t many left. This came as a bit of a surprise to me a few years ago, when relatives from Germany were visiting and wanted to see one. Their German language guidebook had photos of the mighty ‘weizenkathedrale’ of the Canadian prairies. Apparently it made them sound majestic – something not to be missed. Needless to say, as a prairie boy, I took a few things for granted such as the grain elevator. They’re everywhere. You can see the one in the next town before you’ve left the shadow of the one in this town. What’s the big deal? But it was a big deal for these visitors. ‘Where can we see one?’ they asked. ‘Oh, anywhere’, I said. ‘Any town. You’ll probably see half a dozen between here and Edmonton.’ But they didn’t. They’d all come down, or most of them, by then, and I hadn’t even noticed. A defining prairie landmark was disappearing and I, for one, had long since stopped noticing that they were even there. Now that I know it, I’m working on appreciating them, which brings us to the old and somewhat shabby-looking UGG elevator in Kinuso. A photo of this edifice appeared on the front page of a recent issue of the High Prairie South Peace News, along with its owners. They favour turning it over to the local museum, the caption says, but there are some issues of land ownership to be worked out. Well, I hope they do get worked out, because it sure would be nice to be able to direct tourists to Kinuso, instead of wherever the next nearest preserved elevator is. They’re getting pretty hard to find. A good example of preservation is in Dawson Creek B.C. There, right opposite the Mile Zero post of the Alaska Highway, the community has turned a large brown elevator into a museum and art gallery. It’s quite spectacular and also in a great location to catch all that Yukon and Alaska-bound traffic. It must get thousands of visitors every year. But Dawson Creek is a long way from here, and most visitors to this neck of the woods would not go that far out of their way. So I’m all for the preservation of the Kinuso grain elevator as part of the museum. It would be a fine addition to the area’s tourist attractions, especially if it were spruced up a bit so as to be able to host tours. I know I’d go. The only grain elevator I’ve ever been in has a winding ramp and paintings on the walls. Perhaps this one could be restored to look like an operating elevator. That would be cool! Having said that, I really have no idea what the possibilities are. It just seems too good an opportunity to let slip away.

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