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Elevator society draws crowd for Christmas dinner

Stan Eichhorn said things were looking up at this year’s P&H Elevator Preservation Society Christmas dinner
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Eric Snowden

Stan Eichhorn said things were looking up at this year’s P&H Elevator Preservation Society Christmas dinner — the 10th annual event for the organization.

“After the fiascos we had last year, we didn’t know if anyone was going to come,” Eichhorn said to the crowd gathered at the Stettler Recreation Centre.

While the previous year’s event was plagued with issues, from the caterer to the venue, all in attendance had to agree that this year’s event was a success, with around 100 people in attendance.

The group enjoyed a roast turkey dinner with side dishes, salads and dessert, provided by Catering by Sarah, as well as door prizes and a 50/50 draw, a guest speaker, and updates both visual and verbal on the historic elevator.

Eichhorn explained that the society has traditionally held its Christmas dinner in the New Year, as it’s easier to work the event into people’s schedules in January. He said the event ran smoothly this year, with only a few anticipated guests unable to attend.

Eric Snowden, who served as manager of the P&H elevator from 1981 until its closure in 2003, was the evening’s guest speaker.

He spoke about his farm upbringing, his hopes of becoming a veterinarian, and the career arc that took him across Western Canada and ultimately to Stettler, moving to the town with his wife Fran and their four kids, before he had a job in place.

Snowden said he applied for the elevator job soon after his arrival, adding, “I was greener than grass and didn’t know what to do.”

He was 36 when he was hired. From 1981 to 1991 he also operated the feed mill at the elevator complex, which kept him hopping with four machines to look after.

“You just ran in a circle all day long,” he recalled. “There’s a lot of work involved in an elevator, and especially an old one like the one we had.”

While he feared that the elevator would quickly close, leaving him with no job and no pension, he said, “I accepted my place in life, as to keep this thing going.”

The 1,600-tonne elevator faced competition from the nearby Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator, and Snowden said he had to work hard to keep the grain moving and “beat the system.”

He entertained the audience with stories of derailed cars, the faithful farmers who supported the elevator, and Steely, the stray cat that caught pigeons and mice.

His young son fell into a grain car while visiting his dad at work once; another time, Snowden himself was hit by lightning.

Snowden said the lightning strike blew his nylon jacket to “smithereens” and temporarily paralyzed one of his arms. There was no lasting damage, he added, but he sometimes feels a twitch in one of his fingers.

After Snowden’s presentation, Eichhorn returned to the stage to offer an update on the past year at the elevator, including the pancake breakfast held in May, school tours led by Donna Langille, and the celebration supper held in September.

Gordon Goodrich’s construction class from William E. Hay Composite High School helped construct an insulated south wall on the feed shed, while Maggie MacKenzie served as the elevator society’s summer student this year.

Dave McCourt also showed a video depicting both the Little Giant, a thresher built in 1887, and the Beast, an elevator engine from 1912, in action.

The two machines were restored and demonstrated for the first time at the celebration supper in September.

A shed was constructed on the site by Metalex Metal Buildings to house them.

“It ran almost flawlessly through the whole demonstration,” McCourt said of the pair of machines. “We learned a few things about it. We’ll do a better one in the spring.”

The society will hold its 2015 pancake breakfast on May 31.

For more information, visit www.stettlergrainelevator.com.