Tag: Harrison Milling

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HARRISON MILL AND GRAIN ELEVATOR

Many years ago I wrote about my afternoon in Holmfield wherein we wandered around this old mill and its outbuildings. Yesterday I went back to look for some old trucks and get a photograph of the old truck parked at the mill.

The Harrison brothers arrived in Manitoba in 1878. They built a mill in another location which was by-passed by the railway so they sold their mill and moved to this location.

The brothers were very successful operating a flour mill, a workshop and ran a lumber business at this location. The lumber business was phased out in 1972. The mill was first run by steam, then diesel engines in the 30’s and finally electrical current in 1947. The facility is believed to be the oldest mill in Western Canada.

The operation closed in the 1990’s and is still owned by the family.

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HARRISON MILL

In 1897, the Harrison’s built a flour mill to process grain into flour for local farmers. A year after opening, they added a large stone warehouse.  The mill was operated by three generations of the Harrison family.

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Originally powered by steam, the mill was converted to diesel engines in the 1930’s and then electrical current in 1947. An associated workshop enabled the Harrison’s to make repairs on site.  As well, they did mechanical work for others until dismantling the shop in 1955.

In the 1940’s the family purchased a lumber business and built a new lumber yard adjacent to the mill in 1962. They phased out the lumber business in 1972 but continued to mill grain until the late 1990’s.

The two grain elevators were built in 1928 by Federal Grain Limited.  They were moved to this location late 1940s.

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The facility is believed to be the oldest mill in Western Canada.

Information obtained through the Manitoba Historical Society.