56 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



IX. The Country Elevator 



The country elevators in 1916-17, in the three Prairie 

 Provinces, numbered 3,287, and the average capacity of 

 each was about 30,000 bushels. Either as single build- 

 ings or very often as a row of buildings along the railway 

 track, they form a characteristic feature of western rail- 

 way stations. They are usually constructed of wood with 

 galvanized iron plates on the outside. This covering 

 serves to keep out water and diminishes the risk of fire. 



The farmer hauls his load of wheat from the farm to a 

 country elevator in bulk in an open wagon or, if it is win- 

 ter time, in an open sleigh, ^^' On arriving at the elevator, 

 he drives his wagon on to the scales which are raised upon 

 a platform about six feet from the level of the ground ; 

 and here he obtains the gross weight of his wagon and its 

 load. The elevator operator, with the aid of a crank, then 

 moves the wagon in such a fashion that the front end is 

 raised and the back end is lowered. He then pulls up the 

 door of the grain pit and removes the end-board of the 

 wagon, so that the grain runs out from the back of the 

 wagon into the pit. The empty wagon is then weighed, 

 and its weight when subtracted from the gross weight of 

 the load and wagon previously obtained, gives the weight 

 of the grain deposited in the elevator. If the elevator has 

 a cleaner, the wheat, after passing into the pit, may have 

 its screenings removed, and these may be taken home by 

 the farmer to be used as feed. Finally, the wheat is trans- 

 ferred from the pit to the bins by means of an elevator 

 composed of buckets attached to an endless rubber belt 



21 The wheat when being loaded on to a wagon or sleigh is scooped 

 into a grain-tight box holding from 60 to 100 bushels. The inven- 

 tion of the grain-tight box has relieved the farmer of the necessity of 

 hauling his wheat to the elevator in sacks. 



