Heartbreak as Canada’s oldest ‘prairie castle’ is destroyed by fire

One spark drifted on the wind, and the landmark structure burned to the ground. Photograph: Troy Angus/The Den

Canada’s oldest wooden grain elevator has been destroyed in a fire, dashing hopes of reclaiming its wood and preserving a piece of the country’s farming history.

Troy Angus, who bought a pair of dilapidated elevators at municipal auction, last month announced plans to salvage and repurpose thousands of pieces of wood and metal that made up the bulk of the structures, often called “prairie castles” for their towering, regal appearance on the vast landscape.

But on 6 April, the salvage team was burning some of the structure’s rotten debris in a nearby slough when disaster struck.

“During the last hour of our workday, the light wind which blew all day out of the south switched directions from the east,” Angus wrote on Facebook. “A small ember floated upwards towards the elevator and was sucked into a hole the size of a football, igniting the 125-year-old wood virtually on contact.”

The team knocked the elevator down within seven minutes of it catching fire, avoiding damage to nearby power lines and rail tracks.

Angus wrote that within an hour, the entire structure was gone and a “major grass fire” was averted because of the wet ground and rain throughout the day.

Built in 1897, the Lake of the Woods Milling Company grain elevator was long a fixture of the Manitoba town of Elva. But decades of neglect, and the vagaries of agricultural technology, left the elevator abandoned and vulnerable to the elements.

The grain elevator stood out on the flat prairie landscape of Manitoba. Photograph: Design Pics Inc/Alamy

Most old wooden grain elevators meet one of two fates: they are either destroyed in a large fire or demolished. Angus had tried a third option, repurposing the wood. But the dry interior wood, as well as thousands of pounds of grain dust that accumulates in the structures over the years, can be a potent and dangerous combination.

Before the fire consumed the building, Angus was able to salvage virtually all the antique tin that skated the elevator, selling it to collectors across the continent.

The United Grain Growers elevator nearby, which Angus also now owns, was untouched by the fire. His goal is now to safely dismantle and salvage its woods and metal.