Feedback on the Portable Elevator Press Release

Since the release of the Manitoba Agricultural Museum press release “Portable Elevator 1906 Style” various comments have flowed to the Museum. A number were along the lines “Even the horses were thinking And I thought I was too old to run away to join the circus as they were being harnessed up to the elevator”. There were serious comments such as how did the system keep track of how the rail cars were allocated? Enforcement was fine but how did a farmer know when he was being done out of a car? As well, the question was asked while a farmer who loaded a producer car avoided elevation fees and potential abuse in weighing and grading, didn’t the farmer wind up dealing with the same buyers when the producer car was unloaded at Fort William or Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay)? The answer to the how the system kept track of how the railcars were allocated is that the railways were obligated to keep a Car Order Book as a result of 1902 amendments to the Manitoba Grain Act. A court case brought at Sintaluta, Saskatchewan later in 1902 over the allocation of railcars at that shipping point was won by farmers so proving the Manitoba Grain Act was enforceable. Every railway station had to keep a car order book and make it available for public inspection. At shipping points with no station, someone had to be appointed to keep the car order book. When someone, elevator agent or farmer, ordered a car the order was written into the book and railcars were to be allocated in the order that the car orders were received. Each order appeared on a separate page of the book and lists details of the order plus details of the railway filling the car order. The photo shows a page, with the information required, in a CPR car order book which is in the Museum collection. The person who ordered the railcar had to be given notice when the car arrived and was available for loading. Loading of the car had to begin within 24 hours or the car would be reallocated to the next order on the list. In subsequent amendments of the Manitoba Grain Act and its successor, the Canada Grain Act, the details of the car order book were further refined. It would appear that in the early days of the car order book, each farmer or grain company could only have one unfilled order at a station however by 1930, the book had evolved to allow grain companies to have two unfilled orders and a farmer one unfilled order. As soon as an order was filled, additional applications could be made. As to the question, didn’t the farmer wind up dealing with the same buyers when the producer car was unloaded at Fort William or Port Arthur? It was possible that the farmer could have dealt with the same buyers but there were also buyers who were only active at port. However a significant advantage to shipping a producer car was that the car was sampled on its way through Winnipeg, sent on its way to port and the sample graded by inspectors appointed under the Grain Act. By the time the car arrived at the Lake Head, a grade had been assigned. Inspectors weighed the grain when the car was unloaded. The farmer then had the advantage of a neutral third party grading and weighing the grain. At the time, there were a number of prices offered for grain. A producer could sell grain immediately at an elevator for the “street” price. However a producer with enough grain of one quality to load a rail car could get “track” price when the car was loaded and was ready to ship to a port terminal. As the car made it way to port and was sampled and graded, the producer could then get a “billed and inspected” price. When the grain was unloaded and weighed into storage in a port terminal, the producer could then get a “spot” price. “Billed and inspected” and “spot” prices were successively higher than the “track” price as more was known about the grain and it was closer to export position. Usually “street” price was lowest, making loading a producer car attractive particularly as one would also get neutral grading and weighing of their grain. Against this one has to consider the problems in loading a railcar at the time. The Fowler boxcar in the Museum’s collection could hold 850 bushels of wheat approximately. The standard grain wagon of the time held 80 bushels and if the dirt roads of the time were soft then one would be wise to reduce the load. Loading a producer car meant a lot of travelling between the siding and farm plus one may have to manually load the wagon on farm and manually load the car. Even with a Carberry Wood and Iron Works portable elevator there was a lot of manual labour involved. When one reads the Manitoba Grain Act there is reference to special binning. If an elevator offered special binning, a producer with a car lot of wheat could request this and have his grain kept separate from other grain in the elevator. The producer could then load a car through the elevator and send it on its way. Elevation and storage charges would be assessed by the elevator but loading the car would be much easier. Commission agents and elevator companies offered administration services to farmers who shipped producer cars. If there were questions regarding the grades and weights of the grain then they would serve as the farmer’s agent. They would also offer advice as to pricing and assist in sales. As for getting permission to unload a producer car at port, most terminals at the Lake Head were public terminals up to about 1920. Public terminals were obligated to accept all grain offered to them if the terminal had space. Even more interesting was that no mixing (blending) was allowed at public terminals. In short, if it was graded as a Manitoba No2 Hard, it was stored in a bin with other Manitoba No2 Hard wheats and no other grades were allowed to be added to the bin. The Lake Head ports operated a port clearing association at the time. Grain buyers often accumulated a parcel for shipping that consisted of different lots of grain, all of the same grade, scattered around in various terminals. However rather than moving the vessel between the terminals to load, the clearing association directed the vessel to the terminal best able to handle loading the vessel. Then warehouse receipts were swapped around between the owners of the grain by the clearing association to regularize the situation. Port efficiency was improved and time in loading was reduced by this system. As this clearing association was recognized in the Bank Act, financial security arrangements were improved as security document transfers were avoided when loading was taking place. The grading system of the time, particularly the no mixing rule, facilitated the operation of the port clearing association as it avoided squabbles over quality to a large degree.