BUSINESSES

Grain Handling and Elevators
Many a story has been told of the experiences of the pioneers and the business of grain handling. Threshing was done from the stack in those days. There was no stook threshing, stacks were placed two and two, so that the threshing machine could pull in between them. Each was built of four or five loads of sheaves; and great care and pride was taken to build a good-looking stack, which would shed the rain. Stacks were left to stand a few weeks, to offset the sweating which took place in them. When the grain was dry and mature, the threshers came, with their steam-powered engine and threshing separator. There were no feeders on the machine; the sheaves were thrown onto a table or platform, where two men cut the bands of twine, and passed the sheaves on to a man who stood directly in front of the machine, poking in the grain, a very dusty and demanding job. There was no blower, but there was a straw carrier from which the straw had to be kept away as it fell. This was done by a bucking pole, pulled by a team of horses. Neither was there a bagger. One man handed over the bag for the grain, a second one filled it, holding it up to the chute; and two men carried away full bags (about two bushels each). Meantime, a tally with a round disc, numbered one to ten, a second disc to record the tens and a third one for the hundreds, kept tab on the number of bushels threshed.
In regard to prices, farmers had to take what they could get on the open market, at the time. There was great fluctuation of prices, which alwas seemed to be at their lowest just when the farmers had grain to sell in the fall.
Grain was hauled to the elevator by team and wagon, or sleigh if the snow was deep. Before the railroad came as far as Crandall, grain was hauled to Hamiota, and before that, to Brandon or Virden. Farmers would help each other over bad spots on the road by putting more than one team on a load. The grain was all in bags, and so could be picked up if upset. It was a long way to Virden, over the valley hills. The men often wore a grain sack around the head and face, like the parka we now have, for protection against the cold. On reaching the elevator, the grain was emptied into a chute or a hopper, in which it was weighed. Some places soon had outdoor weightscales. Some people can still remember the hand-operated lever that dumped the grain into a pit, by raising the front of the wagon. Some can recall elevators where horse power was used for elevation - horses going around and around propelling a large pole. About 36 bags of grain made up a load. Each elevator had a grain buyer or agent. Sometimes the agents would come out from the elevators and vie with each: other to buy the grain, bidding on the loads, or offering a better grade than! another agent.
The first elevator at Crandall was built at the townsite before there was much of a town. There was no place in town for the construction gang to board. so they stayed at the home of Mr. Ed Vance. Mrs. Eva Kennedy remembers going across the rough, frozen ground on the stoneboat with her mother to get their meals, Mr. Vance not being married at that time. This elevator belonged to the Winnipeg Elevator Company, the agent being Bob Steele. It was burned in 1914.
In 1901 Ogilvies were the next to build and William Lorimer was their first buyer. He was followed by Jimmy Smith and William Murdock. In 1901 also, Herb Hall built an elevator and was in it for five or six years. In 1908 he sold it to Western Canada Flour Company. Their agent was Herb Stevens. In 1910 this elevator was taken down and rebuilt in Isabella.
About 1903 the Northern Elevator Company was built and Sam Miller was the first buyer here. In 1904 William Sparling from Beulah built an elevator at the west end. This was owned by the Maple Leaf Milling Company. Other agents were Archie Johnston and Charlie Cartwright and Frank Clark. The Federal then bought this and the agents were Earl Doupe and Norman Hope. Another elevator mentioned in 1905 was the McHugh & Company, Winnipeg.
By 1912 there were just the three elevators: The Winnipeg Elevator Company, Ogilvies and the Maple Leaf Company.
In 1917 there were just Maple Leaf and Ogilvies. Records for the next few years at Crandall are not available. As our elevator is now Pool-owned, we must go back to the inception of this system for more information.
The Manitoba Wheat Pool was organized in 1924. Under its contract with the members, it agreed to act as agent to market its members' wheat under the pooling system. Not owning or operating any country elevators, it was necessary to enter into an agreement with the owners of such elevators to store grain for them. Unfair treatment by these elevators of Wheat Pool members led to the setting up of Manitoba Pool Elevators Association in 1925, by Special Act of the Manitoba Legislature.
As far as can be ascertained, the Crandall Pool Elevator Association was formed in 1928 with Harvey Hyndman, President and Hartwell Doupe as Secretary-Treasurer. The former Federal elevator was bought by the Pool about 1940 for a second elevator. One of the early grain buyers was William Murdock, followed by Lawrence Nelson. The present "manager" as the grain buyer is now called is Murray Bray. The reason for the change in title has to do with the Labour Code of Canada.
In 1952 the elevator (Federal originally) situated west of the main elevator, was moved up tight to the main building and used as an annex. A fertilizer shed was erected. Dust bins have been installed to make working conditions better, and in the fall of 1970, Crandall Elevator was remodelled with a new office, electric heat, new driveway with a forty-ton scale with weigh beam in the office. There is also a complete new cement foundation and a general overhaul of all the facilities.

The Old Grinding Mill
During the early days of the community, Mr. Charles Cartwright opened a custom grinding service, or "chopping" service, as many called it, in the west end of town. Few farmers owned a grinder or chopper as a gasoline engine was needed to drive it, so they loaded up their grain in sacks and brought it to town by horse and wagon to have it ground for feed for their livestock. The grain was emptied into the hopper of the grinder and then the bag was used to catch the chop as it was elevated up a bagger by small cups to the height of the bags. Two bags were placed side by side under it and hooked to the end of the bagger. This way the bags were filled without manual labor. Mr. Robus helped out during the busy period. Gradually the farmers purchased their own grinders and this business disappeared.
Mr. Cartwright also sold coal oil and White Rose gasoline. He carried on this business for a number of years as well as operating a grain elevator.
A number of the farmers, before the time of gas-powered engines, did the grinding with a small crusher run by the power of the wind. The grinder was attached in some way to the windmill, which was used to pump water for their animals and their own use. Many times the wind failed to blow when chop was required and if the wind should come up during the night, then the farmer would spend the remainder of the night filling the hopper of the crusher since it was a slow job. The crusher was small, with only about four-inch (in diameter) crusher plates.

Garages
Mr. Thomas Hamilton purchased Beckett's blacksmith shop around 1916 for his son, Arnold, and made it into a garage. This was the beginning of Crandall's garage business. Arnold had the building moved down to the east corner of Main Street and enlarged it. Ernest Warren was in partnership with him. Arnold died in 1918 and Ernest ran the business for a number of years before going to Brandon. There he formed a new partnership with a college friend, Mr. Herbert Gillis. This was the beginning of Gillis & Warren Company, with shops in Brandon and Winnipeg.
Thomas Hamilton had an automobile agency. He stored cars in the building which is now Bob Schoch's garage. Also on Sports Days, the ladies used to serve lunches and meals from this building.
There was a succession of men in the corner garage after Ernest Warren gave it up: Mr. Cobbs who came from Melita and was a renowned saxophone player; J. Souter; Mr. McDonald; Jack Williams; George Davies, who came from Whitewood, Saskatchewan, and was married to Ena Wallace. We think during this period the garage was owned by William Coburn.
In 1931 Robert Schoch came to Crandall to work for George Davies in this garage. In 1932 he started his own shop in the front of the livery stable in partnership with Ed Lewis. Bob moved to the corner garage in 1933. He had this shop until he joined the R.C.A.F. in 1940. In 1945 he opened his present garage just west of the other (where Thomas Hamilton stored his cars).
James Walker moved to Crandall in 1944 and started up business in the corner garage (later in partnership with his brother Jack). This building was destroyed by fire in 1950 and rebuilt the same summer by Jim with the help of Dave Richardson. Walkers left Crandall in 1967. After this, the garage was rented by Delymer Johnston as a storage place for his implements. This garage burned in 1969 and has not been rebuilt. Delymer's son-in-law, Al Hirst, lost his backhoe in this fire as well as other implements belonging to Delymer. Crandall now has only one garage - Bob Schoch's.

Implement Dealers
Jack Robertson was one of the earliest implement dealers in Crandall. He sold John Deere and Massey Harris Implements. He also repaired binders and other implements. W.C. Lorimer helped to set up equipment for him.
W .J. Budd came to Crandall in 1902 and became the Massey Harris agent for the next thirty years. He sold other farm equipment as well - Rumley Threshers and tractors, Fairbanks-Morse and several other lines. His place of business was in the building which later became William Coburn's office, lots 10, 11 and 14. Jimmy Smith became his partner some time before 1914.
Other Massey Harris agents were Peter Murdock around 1911 and Mr. Whitney around 1922. Later R.J. Brown was Massey-Harris agent followed by Milton McConnell. He had this business during the war years, so didn't sell too many implements. Combines were just becoming available near the end of the Second World War, so there was a Massey-Harris "21" combine in the Victory Day Parade. This machine was bought by James Kirton of Arrow River.
In the early 1900's, Frank Campbell, grandfather of the present Campbell boys, lived in the house now occupied by Barry Angus and ran a machine agency in the building now occupied by R. Schoch as a garage, which at that time consisted of a post office, Campbell's machine agency and a garage used by Thomas Hamilton. Later this machine agency was taken over by James Crawford. He was the first dealer to have a John Deere agency in Crandall. This particular office was the scene of many political arguments, as that generation took their politics quite seriously.
Lome Johnston was John Deere agent for many years in the same office as was occupied by James Crawford. His nephew, Delymer Johnston, took over this business when Lorne gave it up. Delymer still sells some machinery although the implement dealers in the nearby larger towns get most of the business.
Mr. Robert Welsh, the blacksmith, sold Cockshutt implements for a time. Philip Mark also lived in town and represented J.I. Case Company which in 1914.1915 sold threshing machines, tractors (steam and gas) and also manufactured cars which Mr. Mark also sold. R.J. Brown was an agent for Gray-Dart cars and sold several in the community between 1915 and 1922.
At various times Jim Walker was agent for Oliver farm equipment, Robin cultivators and Willis jeeps.

Fuel Dealers
In the early days of Crandall at the turn of the century, there was not too thriving a fuel industry except for coal oil and a bit of gas. This was all handled in barrels.
Mr. Charles Cartwright kept barrels of coal oil and White Rose gasoline in the grinding mill. This was located in a building at the west end of town. It had a little platform in front and the sign "Winnipeg Oil Co." printed on it. AI far as it is known, Mr. Cartwright was the only White Rose dealer ever in Crandall.
Sam Shier had the first bulk fuel business in Crandall. The tanks were located west of the old Federal Elevator south of the railroad tracks. Mr. Shier was an agent for the Independent Oil Co. which later was sold to the Imperial Oil Company. Mr. Shier filled 45-gallon barrels from these bulk tanks, loaded them on a truck and delivered the gas to the farmers in the surrounding area. He also kept a few barrels of gas and coal oil at his house yard for the convenience of people who just wanted a gallon of coal oil or gas for their lamps, etc.
When Imperial Oil took over from the Independent Oil Co., the tanks were moved to the east end of town south of the tracks. William Coburn took over as agent for the Imperial Oil Co. in October, 1929. He, too, delivered barrels of gas to the farmers. He had his office in a building beside Todd's store. This building, in later years, was moved to the C.W. Lewis farm by Ray Wale when he lived there and he made it into a machine shed.
Mr. Coburn was also the dealer for International Harvester Implements. In 1952 he gave up the implement business, moved his office to his house and drove his own fuel truck. The Imperial Oil business was closed in the spring of 1958 and the tanks and shed moved away. Grant Hyndman now has the oil shed on his farm.
The British American Oil Co. was represented in Crandall too. Early agents for this company were Jack Fraser, Earl Doupe, Sam Shier (just for a few months), Bob Schoch ran the B.A. business for about six months prior to 1933.
In 1936 C.J. Lyng moved to Crandall. He had a barbershop and poolroom in part of Clarke's store and also had the B.A. fuel business. In 1939 he bought a building from Roy Brown which was part of his father's shop. About twenty years ago, Cliff changed from delivering fuel in barrels to a tank truck. Farmers put up tanks on stands in their yards. The oil company gave the farmers these tanks on condition that they would use their gas and diesel fuel. Cliff also has bowsers in front of his shop where he serves the motoring public. He also has a good tire business and still is the town barber. In 1969, BA changed its name to Gulf Oil Company.
Jack Clarke had gas bowsers in front of his store, as did the garage. the east end of Main Street, most recently owned by James Walker.
When R.J. Brown owned the hardware store, his son, Roy, undertook to sell gas. He kept the barrels of gas at the east side of the hardware. No one seems sure what brand it was, but apparently this gas had a terrible odor, so this business did not last too long. It is said that someone lit a match one night to see if there was any gas in a barrel, and there was a very loud explosion.
George Padfield sold Anglo-Canadian Oil Co. fuel for a short while after the refinery started in Brandon in the late 1930's.
Coal was unloaded from train cars into coal sheds. Thomas Hamilton looked after distributing the coal to those who wanted it. Lorne Johnston took over this enterprise and now Delymer Johnston sells and delivers coal.
Wood was another very necessary form of fuel. With the coming of the railroad, cordwood was brought in by carload lots, and dealers cut it in stove lengths and sold and delivered it to their many customers. Mr. George Angus had this business for several years. No doubt there were other dealers in this line as well, over the years.

Livery Barn
It has been related by Mr. John Rudd that he believes that Mr. Joe Hannah from Oak River built the livery barn in Crandall just after the town started in 1899. Mr. J.W. Bishop took over the business for awhile until J.W. Warren bought him out in the fall of 1903. Various people worked for and rented the livery business while it was under the Warren ownership. Two names that have come to our attention are Pete Murray and J.T. Finkbeiner. Mr. Warren sold the business in 1910 to Mr. Charles Gray. Mr. Gray stayed in business until 1931; at this time it was taken over by the Kerr family from east of town for a short time. Mr. Joe Lawson took over from them and it remained in his hands until it was closed from lack of business. The barn was bought in 1956 or 1957 by Mr. Wilf Lelond of Arrow River and was dismantled.
You might say that the above-mentioned and others were really the pioneer taxi drivers. Some of these men had as many as six teams on the road at one time. They drove travellers, ministers, doctors, cattle buyers, insurance agents or anyone wishing to hire a conveyance to take them where they wanted to go. This job was done for a set fee.
In the late forties and early fifties, Mr. Milt McConnell ran a taxi service to many places as well as Brandon. Now we have a Manitoba Motor Transit bus originating at Birtle travelling to Brandon and back six days a week. Express parcels are also carried on the bus.

BUSINESSES - OTHERS
Trucking
The first trucking service in the area that anyone can recall was carried on by Bill Padfield who started his business around 1935. He hauled grain and livestock for farmers, and gravel for roads and for individuals. His brother, George, helped him until he left to join the Armed Forces. Bill moved away in 1956.
About 1942 Bruce Robertson purchased a P.S.V. license and started trucking livestock to Brandon and brought freight back. Ed Lewis took over from him and when he moved from Crandall, he sold his franchise to Gregory and Bailey of Decker who continued this freiqhtinq service still giving satisfaction today. As well as the Decker Transfer as it is now known, Crandall area has the facilities of the Miniota Transfer at its disposal. Today most farmers haul their own grain and some livestock with their own trucks.
Milk Delivery
No history of a rural community or village is complete without mentioning the people who delivered milk to the town or made milk available to those who came for it. Often a farmer retiring to town took a cow with him and the surplus was given or sold to friends or neighbours.
Among those who delivered milk was Ed Vance who had a fairly good business in this line and for awhile used a team of Shetland ponies to deliver his product. Hartwell Doupe also delivered milk to town. Russel Vance supplied milk as did Garnet Johnson when he moved to town. For reasons of health, the Public Health Commission demanded certain standards of those delivering milk and so it was that milk was brought into town from accredited dairies by truck.
Eggs
In the early years, as in other districts, the surrounding farms supplied the townspeople with eggs, either delivering them privately or trading them to the local storekeeper for groceries as they did butter. This was common practice until the price of eggs, as produced by the farmers, was so low there was no profit in it. The farmers found they must produce a quality egg to meet market demands. Since this has become a highly specialized industry, most farms haven't the time, nor facilities, to produce such eggs.
One of our farmers, however, did turn to this highly specialized industry. Mr. and Mrs. Herald Hall have a very modern set-up with caged hens where the eggs roll out onto a collection gutter. They have a flock of 800 hens and sell eggs to the local residents, adjacent towns, Virden and as far north as Thompson.
Laundry
There were apparently two Chinese men operating a laundry in Crandall around 1910. Their laundry was situated just back of Mrs. Kolac's present home (on Block 5) and was next to the back lane. Mrs. Steve Robus remembers taking her father's white shirts there to be laundered. They were subject to pranks by the local boys, and perhaps this terminated their desire to stay in the village - who knows?
Dressmakers
In the early days of pioneer settlement, ready-made clothes were not easily obtained in rural communities, and therefore, there was a need for local dressmakers. Crandall area had its share of these among whom were: Mrs. Hossie, Miss Frances Warren (Mrs. William Lorimer), Mrs. Badgely, who made suits as well as dresses, Miss Addie Anderson (Mrs. Jim Mitchell), Mrs. John Koch, Miss Collins, Miss Annie Smith (Mrs. Wes Rivers) and Miss Ethel Angus (Mrs. Bernie Strachan); the latter two worked in a little shack on the south side of the house formerly owned by Jimmy Walker, then owned by James Robinson. Mr. Robinson had a sewing machine agency and stored his machines there and they were able to use them. They worked here in the summer, but in the winter, worked upstairs over the station.
In connection with apparel, Miss Agnes McCosh had a milliner's seetion in her brother's store in Crandall, which was operated by herself and a manager from Souris.
Carpenters
There were quite a number of excellent carpenters around Crandall over the years. With the building up of a community, there was always a demand for such men. Mr. William Cox, who hauled lumber from Birtle, as others probably did, built the Palmerston school. He built his own house west of Crandall. This is a large brick-veneered house. No doubt there are other buildings 1 he put up in the district. Another one of the very early carpenters was Mr. Ryerson Badgely, who built many houses, barns and also the first Crandal school. Mr. Tommy Reece was another carpenter, and one house in particular that he built was the one owned by Mr. R.L. Dickey for many years. Some of the other ones that have been mentioned were Mr. William Douglas, Mr. Jim Murray, Mr. Hossie, Mr. Saunderson, Mr. George Cornish, Mr. George Angus and Mr. William Irvine. No doubt there have been others also who contributed their skills in this line to the community.
We know of at least two lime kilns in the area, one being in the Palmerston district and the other in the Carlingville district. These kilns were a type of oven used in the-production of lime, and were situated at the source of material used. This lime extracted was used in the mortar that was used in barn foundations, etc.
Stone masons were much in demand around the countryside in the early days. Their fine workmanship is still in evidence in many barn foundations and stone houses around the Crandall district.
Insurance
Crandall has had its share of insurance agents. The names of some of the earlier ones were: Billy Budd and Lorne Johnston - General William Coburn, Robert Kitz, Cliff Lyng, Ben Doupe and Murray Bray - Hail, Herald Hall looked after the Manitoba Crop Insurance for three years.
In the days when Crandall had its bank, the managers sold insurance to their clients - life, fire, etc., in some instances even before a loan would be granted. We believe that this area in the early days was served by the Miniota Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Beulah, Manitoba.
When Mr. J.R. Lynch of Miniota gave up the agency for the Wawanesa Mutual, it was taken on by Charles Lee of Crandall.
One life insurance agent during the thirties was Mr. R.E. McDonald representing The Great-West Life Assurance Company.
Well Digging
Every district always has men available to do the odd jobs that are a part of every day living. One of these odd jobs was well digging. Steve Robus and Eddie Henderson used to have an ad in the Crandall Enterprise advertising their well digging business. Bismark Wallace, Albert Irvine and we are sure many others carried out this tedious task. Some people in our area had their wells stone lined. Dave Brown and George Padfield had well drilling outfits wilich were used to go to a greater depth. Some of the water diviners or well witchers as they were more often called were Wesley Lewis, William Hyndman, Sam Shier and Steve Robus.
Wells are often dug, or at least started today, with machinery. Such a machine is an excavator or backhoe which is used extensively to dig trenches for water systems, etc., also dig basements. Al Hirst is our excavator.