Description of Historic Place

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator is a Municipal Heritage Property in the community of Horizon. This wood-crib grain elevator was built in 1953, and a wood-frame annex was constructed in 1952.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator lies in its status as the last operating grain elevator in the Rural Municipality of Bengough No. 40. Although the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) branch line that runs through Horizon was abandoned in 1996, a local farmers’ group called Red Coat Road and Rail Ltd. purchased part of the branch line in 1999, facilitating continued use of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator for its original purpose. Sited on its original location, the elevator is a landmark in the community

The heritage value of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator also rests in its architecture. The existing wood-crib, wood-clad, 35,000 bushel grain elevator was constructed in 1953 to replace a 27,000 bushel elevator that had been built in 1927 on the same spot. A pre-existing, wood-frame annex was attached to the new elevator. With a typical “sloped shoulders” profile, this relatively recent elevator illustrates the “standard elevator” design that was developed in the early 1900s on the encouragement of the CPR and widely used until the 1960s, when it was generally replaced by the flat-roofed style.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Bengough No. 40 Bylaw No. 221.2004.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the use of the elevator and annex for grain handling, including machinery for weighing, elevating and cleaning grain;
-Those elements that reflect grain elevator architecture, including its wood, crib-type construction, wood siding and the "sloping shoulder" profile of the elevator building;
-the siting of the elevator and annex in their original locations along the railway right-of-way.