Big Move 18 Years Ago

rusty6 · Mar 5, 2020

Although they would not be considered yesterday's tractors, the two new Quadtrac IH tractors in this photo are 18 years old now. Young's Equipment brought them out to hook up to the United Grain Annex for a little added pulling power on March 4, 2002. They were headed 20 some miles West with it. A very slow process over several days but it was successful. I think it was one of the biggest moves in North America at the time.

Old Scovy · Mar 5, 2020

How would you like to be riding up on top looking out that window ? . Hammer Down Ralph ,we got to Gooooooo!

rusty6 · Mar 5, 2020

(quoted from post at 11:29:05 03/05/20) How would you like to be riding up on top looking out that window ? . Hammer Down Ralph ,we got to Gooooooo!

You would not get me up there when it was moving down the road. Just imagine the slightest shift as the road undulates. It is so high and narrow I'd be afraid of a wind gust taking it over. I was up in the one next to it before they knocked that one down. Its a great place to explore and sad to say hardly anybody will ever get to do that again. This photo shows the U.G.G. annex before they put it up on wheels for the move.

rustred · Mar 5, 2020

yep, and now most are destroyed.

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2020

Hey Rusty....looked like it.
Part one

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2020

And part II with your tractors.

Move II

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2020

Glad this guy is doing photography.

Photos.

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2020

This is just so sad. The Canadian film board has mad some great movies.

Grain tower.

JK-NY · Mar 5, 2020

Wow that is quite a project. I wonder how many power and
phone lines had to temporarily dropped for the building to
clear. I think it is fairly flat out your way but something that tall
must have been a real challenge to move and reset. When I
was a kid they moved 2 houses from maybe 1/2 or3/4 mile
south of me, one is kitty corner from my home. They were
owned by the Tennessee Gas pipeline (later known as
Tenneco the same Tenneco that bought JI Case) and were
sold to the employees who lived in them very reasonable with
the condition they would be moved. They are both single story
brick houses and both took the move well. This was in 1969
or 1970 , quite the thing to watch as a young boy. Thank you
for posting the picture.

JD in da UP · Mar 5, 2020

I?m a little surprised that there?s no Rosetown Towing sign on any of the relic trucks scattered about that area. Rosetown Towing ads kept me chuckling when we visited SK last summer. Can we get pics of Rosetown Towing signs and how far they might be scattered about the countryside?

SweetFeet · Mar 5, 2020

That is really something... to move a
grain elevator!

SweetFeet · Mar 5, 2020

Wow! That'd be my dream job... going around photograghing old bulidings and old iron.

Just fantastic. Thanks for the link, Jeffcat.

rusty6 · Mar 5, 2020

(quoted from post at 14:17:00 03/05/20) Glad this guy is doing photography.
Photos.[/url]

Those are some nice shots of the vintage elevators. That vintage 47 Mercury truck sure caught my eye too.
And thanks for linking to the annex moving video too. It gives a little more idea of what went on that day. They moved incredibly slow so that the oil in the level sensing system on all those wheels could keep things level. The still photo I posted was at the bottom of Jumping Deer Creek where they stopped to do some media interviews.

jeffcat · Mar 5, 2020

You are very welcome. I remembered seeing something about it several years ago
and you rang a bell. I knew right where to look. What did you think of the
Canadian film board story? Just so so sad. If you look at the map it is a case
of chicken pox! There were that many at one time???!!!

Jim in Sask · Mar 5, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:58:24 03/05/20) You are very welcome. I remembered seeing something about it several years ago
and you rang a bell. I knew right where to look. What did you think of the
Canadian film board story? Just so so sad. If you look at the map it is a case
of chicken pox! There were that many at one time???!!!

According to this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia the number of elevators peaked at over 5,700 in 1933:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/grain-elevators

rusty6 · Mar 5, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:58:24 03/05/20) What did you think of the
Canadian film board story? Just so so sad. If you look at the map it is a case
of chicken pox! There were that many at one time???!!!

The NFB video was very accurate portraying the daily procedure in the old "woodies". Although that one looked a little old school even for 1981. I think all ours had dust control systems added by then. Power was all electric although I think the old single cylinder Ruston Hornsby engines under the office were still powering ours in the sixties. I don't think they still used the old square boxcars here beyond the 70s. All modern hopper cars.
This is a picture of my 1966 Wheat Pool calendar. Looks like every town had at least one Pool elevator. Now the Wheat Pool is gone along with most of the wooden elevators. Even a lot of the towns are just a memory now.

sms · Mar 6, 2020

Moving the Potsdam NY train station may have been heavier. Sandstone building moved in 1980. A link if you want more.

Potsdam museum page

rusty6 · Mar 6, 2020

(quoted from post at 04:45:24 03/06/20) Moving the Potsdam NY train station may have been heavier. Sandstone building moved in 1980. A link if you want more.
[/url]

That is an impressive building and likely very heavy. Somewhere I have the figures on the weight of this grain annex. The reason they moved it in winter was because the frozen ground would be firm and stable with no soft spots for the wheels to drop in.
Unfortunately our CPR station did not survive. It was sold and moved to a local farm in the late sixties or early seventies. Turned into a cattle shelter and storage shed. Eventually degenerated into a wreck and was burned down. I have a few of the original square nails as souveniers. Wish I had the whole building. I took this photo of it in 1991 at the farm auction.

sms · Mar 6, 2020

They just moved the station far enough to
put a road next to the tracks not twenty
miles. We drove across Canada in 1974,
saw plenty of grain elevators then, that
was how you knew you were coming to a
town.

John Deere D · Mar 6, 2020

Grain elevator as of today........
Now an Art Gallery..............

Railway Station built 1930........
My wife (Lois) was born here in Dawson Creek BC same as her Mother 1920.....Lois's Mother was 99 on December 28,2019!!!!!!!!!!.....................

My Grandfather was on several of these Elevator Crews driving Spikes:

Dawson Creek BC CANADA....Mile Zero of the Alcan / ALASKA HIGHWAY:

The last elevator of the 1930 era was sold to the Town of Dawson Creek BC CANADA....and moved down the Street (Alaska Avenue)to its new permanent location...1988?

An art gallery........

Notice the Elevators in the picture with the USA ARMY arriving to start the construction of the ALASKA /ALCAN Highway...Dawson Creek > Fairbanks ALASKA..

All photos taken in the area of Dawson Creek BC.

My Father arrived in the Dawson Creek area in August 1929..he is now 91.my Mother born in the Dawson Creek area 1930.

Bob...Dawson Creek area in the Summer.....Arizona in the Winter.....

Rick Anderson · Mar 6, 2020

That was a buddy of mine that moved that annex, Harold Minty. Youngs brought the tractors out for nothing 'cause he new there would be TV cameras there. He thought it
would be good advertizing. That load weighed 620 tons.

rusty6 · Mar 6, 2020

(quoted from post at 08:55:37 03/06/20) That was a buddy of mine that moved that annex, Harold Minty. Youngs brought the tractors out for nothing 'cause he new there would be TV cameras there. He thought it
would be good advertizing. That load weighed 620 tons.

Yes, Minty's moving got some advertising on that job for sure. And Youngs saw a good chance to show off the new Quad Tracs. I think one of them was being delivered to a customer in the area at the time.

Big Move 18 Years Ago

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