Elevator worth preserving

Kinuso retired farmers Sloco McRee, right, and Zanny McRee, of Kinuso, want to donate the old United Grain Growers elevator in Kinuso to the local museum society.

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Efforts to save one of Kinuso’s landmarks is in full swing. Brothers Sloco and Zanny McRee are promising to give the old United Grain Growers elevator to the Kinosayo Museum Society if the land the wooden giant rests on can be leased or given to the society. Kinuso Councillor Ken Killeen told councillors at the M.D. of Big Lakes meeting Jan. 9 there is interest in preserving the elevator. “They’re trying to keep the elevator there,” says Killeen. “It’s apparently in the best shape in the province.” Sloco McRee, 74, and his brother Zanny, 72, purchased the elevator in 1974. They are now retired from grain farming and see the elevator as a liability because they pay power and taxes and get no revenue. In short, they have no use for it and it’s costing them money. The elevator does need reroofing but there are varying reports of the cost of the project. M.D. CAO Gilles Lussier says it will cost about $50,000 but a grant is available to cover half the cost. However, the McRees are told the cost is close to $70,000. Regardless, no grant can be accessed or the elevator donated until the railway company acts. As owners of the land, Canadian National Railroad must either donate or lease the land long-term to the Kinosayo Museum Society. “We’d like to get the land, says Art Thorburn, Kinosayo member and board chair. He adds he was told by Alberta Historical Resources to secure a long-term lease before proceeding on th eproject. Thorburn says the board has not officially met and decided to proceed with the project. He adds informal talk amongst members clearly indicates they will proceed. Killeen says the community definitely wants to save the elevator. “We want to keep it,” he says, adding council should be made aware of efforts to save it. “I think it’s important we keep some of these,” says Triangle, Gilwood Councillor Ken Mathews. “They’re becoming few and far between in the country.” UGG acquired Midland and Pacific Grain Company in 1954 including two elevators at Kinuso. One elevator, built in 1938, was dismantled in 1969. The current one was built in 1951. UGG closed the elevator in 1973 and put it up for sale. The McRee brothers were the success bidders. “We agreed in our sales contract not to operate the elevator as a commercial venture,” says Sloco in a story written by Barb Selyem for Country Grain Elevator Historical Society based in Montana. “That was OK, because we wanted it for our own farm storage. It has paid for itself several times and provide benefits we hadn’t thought about when we bought it.” Benefits include less moving of augers and bins and being able to move grain if it begins to heat.

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