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Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator National Historic Site of Canada

Fleming, Saskatchewan, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2008/04/11

General view of the Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator, showing its hipped roof design style, with its shorter stature and narrow cupola, 2003.; Parks Canada Agency / Agence Parcs Canada, 2003.
General view
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Other Name(s)

Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator National Historic Site of Canada
Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator
Élévateur à grains de la Lake of the Woods à Fleming
Lake of the Woods Milling Co. Ltd. Elevator
Lake of the Woods Milling Co. Ltd. Elevator
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator, Fleming “B”
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Elevator, Fleming “B”
United Grain Growers Elevator
United Grain Growers Elevator

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1895/01/01

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2009/04/30

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator National Historic Site of Canada is a wooden, hipped roof grain elevator, located along the Trans-Canada Highway, five kilometres west of the Manitoba border. It is situated south of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) mainline, between the highway and the community of Fleming, Saskatchewan. This National Historic Site was demolished by fire in February 2010. The formal recognition consists of the grain elevator and a small area of surrounding property.

Heritage Value

Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator was designated a national historic site of Canada in 2008 because:
- as one of the oldest known Prairie country grain elevators, structures regarded as icons of rural Western Canadian life, the Fleming elevator is associated with the early development of the grain handling industry in Western Canada; and,
- in its form, materials and most particularly its roof profile, it retains the physical and visual characteristics of the earliest phase of grain elevator design on the prairies.

Once part of a row of four grain elevators, the Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator now stands sentinel on a flat landscape along the Trans-Canada Highway and the CPR main line. One of the oldest known surviving wooden crib-construction grain elevators in Western Canada, the Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator has an overall vertical emphasis and a typical late 19th-century design, in which the main structure’s four exterior walls terminate at eaves about two-thirds of the way up, at which point a hipped roof supports a square cupola. A sloped-roof, wooden lean-to receiving shed is attached at the base on one side and has a ramp leading into it with a shallow incline. Constructed in 1895, the Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator is associated with the genesis of the modern system of grain handling, which took place between 1876 and 1900, and is one of only two surviving grain elevators from this period. By the early 20th century, construction of this hipped roof style of grain elevator became less common, as the monitor-roof “standard plan” design became more dominant. Grain elevators have come to be accepted as icons of the Prairies, and the Fleming Lake of the Woods Grain Elevator, with its surviving wooden massing and rare roof profile, standing tall against the horizon, next to the CPR main line, is a rare surviving example of this evocative symbol of the early history of the grain industry in Western Canada.

Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, July 2007; Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Submission Report 2007-45 author: Kate MacFarlane, Historical Services Branch, Parks Canada.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- its hipped roof design style, with its shorter stature and narrow cupola;
- its traditional wood-crib construction of boards laid horizontally and nailed together;
- its location along the CPR mainline and Trans-Canada highway;
- its sloped-roof wooden lean-to receiving shed;
- its shallow-sloped ramp.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Federal

Recognition Authority

Government of Canada

Recognition Statute

Historic Sites and Monuments Act

Recognition Type

National Historic Site of Canada

Recognition Date

2008/04/11

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1895/01/01 to 2010/01/01

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Technology and Engineering
Developing Economies
Extraction and Production
Peopling the Land
Settlement

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Food Supply
Grain Elevator

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

National Historic Sites Directorate, Documentation Centre, 5th Floor, Room 89, 25 Eddy Street, Gatineau, Québec.

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

11847

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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