National landmark burns down
[ FEBRUARY 15, 2010 - MONIQUE MCKAY ]
Fleming’s historic landmark is gone. The Lake of the Woods elevator, the oldest wooden elevator in its original location in Canada burned to the ground Tuesday morning. The elevator, which was built in 1895 was a National Heritage Site and its restoration has long been at the heart of the tiny border town.
“What a sickening thing to look at,” said resident Rick Hamm. “The whole frame was just lit up.”
Hamm woke up to the phone ringing shortly after 4 am on Tuesday morning. The Moosomin Fire Department had received a call at about 4:05 am and was calling Hamm to open up the curb stop so firefighters could access the town’s water system. Hamm looked out his second story bedroom window. “My legs just went wobbly. I just about dropped,” Hamm said of the conflagration.
Responders at the scene reported that the fire was visible from the turnoff at Moosomin.
“We were just praying it wasn’t one of three buildings,” commented a firefighter watching the blaze in the early morning darkness. "Not the rink; not the hotel; and not the elevator.”
The Moosomin and Elkhorn Fire Departments both responded to the scene, located near the Trans-Canada Highway in the community of Fleming, Saskatchewan, just a few kilometers from the Manitoba border.
Upon their arrival the aged wood elevator was completely engulfed in flames.
Did it even have a chance?
A young firefighter, his face glowing orange and red in the reflection of the blaze, silently shook his head.
Between 12,000 and 14,000 gallons of water were expended at the site, most of it dumped on the Fleming Windsor Hotel. The hotel is the closest building to the elevator and its walls were too hot to touch.
Stunned townspeople watched as the elevator, which has long symbolized their commitment to preserving their history and autonomy, was all too quickly reduced to hot rubble.
“Damn near like losing a family member,” lamented a resident, shaking his head.
Natural causes eliminated; Fleming fire 'suspicious'
“It’s a sad, sad day that that had to burn,” added Moosomin Fire Chief Rob Hanson.
Traffic was slowed on Trans-Canada due to two inches of ash on the road, and the trains were stopped at Broadview until the blaze died down.
“It’ll be nothing but non-stop trains for a while,” observed one resident mournfully as the call went out to get them running again.
“Great fire brigade,” said Fleming Mayor Philip Hamm, nursing a cup of coffee later on that morning at the Fleming Community Coffee Shop. “When they respond, they respond.”
As the emergency response team filtered into the coffee shop around six that morning, ladies with red-rimmed eyes offered them coffee, soft drinks, muffins, and home-made lemon slices.
“We held the wake,” said Fleming Historical Society Member Ruth Oliver on Wednesday, back at the coffee shop. “The morning of the fire. Everyone was here, crying, eating cake, drinking coffee.”
The Lake of the Woods elevator’s hipped roof design was unique, as it was an early experimental model that was abandoned in 1910.
When it was opened, the elevator was powered by two horses pulling a wheel. It had fourteen bins that could hold up to 33,000 bushels of grain.
Present in the coffee shop Wednesday morning were two men who could remember hauling grain to that elevator with a team.
As technology evolved, so did the elevator. Innovations included a new delivery addition, a single stage engine, and eventually electricity and telephone service.
The elevator changed hands several times, and eventually ended up in the possession of the United Grain Growers, which operated the elevator until 1999. UGG owned two elevators in Fleming, and the larger elevator was demolished in 2000. The demolition crew was poised to attack the aged and deteriorating Lake of the Woods elevator when Tina Durbin and Connie Wolfe (then Forsythe) of Fleming petitioned the town to save the landmark, the last of four grain elevators which had once stood proudly by the railroad line bisecting the small rural community.
Town council contacted the Saskatchewan Heritage Branch, which was prepared to support saving the historical landmark if the town was willing undertake the task.
It took four years to work out the details with United Grain Growers, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the town. The elevator was to be sold to Fleming for a nominal fee.
“There was supposed to be a dollar paid but I don’t think it every was,” mused Philip Hamm.
Cleaning and restoration began in 2005. Over thirty dump truck loads of debris were removed from the elevator. In some areas, new supports had to be made, or parts of the structure had to be jacked into position. The north-west section required foundation work. Windows and doors were repaired. Upland Manufacturing Ltd., near Minnedosa, was able to replicatethe metal panels that originally covered the exterior of the elevator. Prairie Blasting of Virden volunteered to sand, prime, and paint the thousands of metal shingles.
The site was designated a Saskatchewan Heritage Site in 2007 and a National Heritage Site in 2008. In 2009 it was recognized by the Historical Architectural Society of Saskatchewan for excellence in exterior restoration and Fleming Historical Society received an award from the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan at Government House in September of that year.
The exterior of the elevator was four days, three men, and $4,000 away from completion when it was destroyed by fire. Although underground electricity had been brought up to the elevator site, it had yet to be installed or hooked up.
The town and environs, consisting of maybe 150 people, had managed to raise about $75,000 over six years. These funds were nearly matched by a series of grants from various levels of government throughout the years. Town council planned on opening the site as a museum and gift shop in the summer of 2010.
Carlos Germann, director of the heritage resources branch with Saskatchewan Tourism, Parks, Culture, and Sport, described the provincial government as “invested in and interested in and passionate about the Fleming grain elevator.”
“The staff in the Heritage Resources branch were truly devastated by it, but the loss is greatest by far for the volunteers who had worked so hard and so long in trying to bring this 1895 elevator back to life,” Germann said.
The Ministry would like “simply to express our sadness at this tragic loss, to the community in particular, but also to the province and to the nation. The elevator was such an enduring symbol of Saskatchewan’s agricultural identity. It was really becoming an iconic image of Saskatchewan. Being so prominently located on the Trans-Canada Highway there was so much hope that it would inspire and educate people about Saskatchewan’s agricultural history.”
As years of suppers, teas, auction concessions, benefit concerts, and other fundraising efforts smouldered away outside, the people of Fleming expressed their shock, outrage, and concern for their safety and that of their families.
“It’s like ripping your heart out,” said Ruth Oliver. “It was a reason for people to stop off the highway. People took photographs. People did paintings.”
“It makes the town look empty,” said Betty Freeman, sadly.
“People are concerned for their property,” said Philip Hamm. “Concerned for their neighbors property. No lives were lost; there was at least one person sleeping in the hotel.”
“There was one set of footprints coming in and out of the highway. Early in the fire we spotted them. It happened before the fire,” said Moosomin Fire Chief Rob Hanson. “From the strides you could see they were running. There’d been no work done in the building for quite a while. There was no electrical hooked up. It rules out natural causes as far as I’m concerned. The fire commisioner’s office was out on Wednesday and we didn’t find a thing. It was pretty well destroyed, to be honest. When we got there it was pretty much totally involved. We went into a defensive mode and concentrated on saving the hotel and surrounding buildings.”
Both the Town of Fleming and the Moosomin Fire Department expressed their gratitude to the town of Elkhorn for their support in battling the blaze.
“It’s almost as if the people of Fleming have lost someone,” said Micheal Last. A simple, non-denominational service will be held at the Fleming Community Hall will be held on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 11:30 am, followed by a potluck lunch. “It’sabout trying to reach a community that’s hurting,” summarized Last.
The RCMP are currently treating this fire as suspicious, and it is still under investigation. The investigation is being supported by the general investigation section from Yorkton. Anyone with any information about this event, especially of a person or a vehicle seen in the vicinity any time after 3 AM, is asked to contact the RCMP at 435-3061.