Old Rosser Elevator Stories: The New Career

The spring of 1948 was beautiful. I was working as a helper in the famous Manitoba Pool Elevator at Starbuck. A friend of mine who was working as a grain buyer in the Ogilvie Elevator asked me if I was interested in becoming a grain buyer. I thought it over for a couple of days and I finally said I would give it a try. He told me that Ogilvie’s in Rosser around Manitoba needed a buyer and that the job was mine if I wanted it.

Thursday, May 13, 1948 was another lovely day. That was the day I came to Rosser to start my career as a grain buyer. There were many times when I thought I was crazy to have taken up grain buying as a full time job but, as I look back over the years, I can’t say that I am sorry. I worked for Ogilvie Flour Mills for 11 years and Manitoba Pool Elevators until the summer of 1969.

As I mentioned earlier the spring of 1948 in Manitoba was a great spring and when I arrived in Rosser most of the seeding had been completed. One of my first experiences as a grain buyer occurred about two hours after I arrived. A farmer came in wanting a load of wheat cleaned. After I had put the grain through the cleaner a couple of times I noticed that after each time through there seemed to be more and more barley in the wheat. After apologizing to the farmer he said it didn’t matter that much as it wasn’t meant for people and he was just going to use the grain to feed his cattle and that all he really wanted was the smaller weed seeds removed. I later checked it out and found some barley stuck in the corner of the bin. When I went home that night I was kind of discouraged and I thought to myself that I would probably stay for only two weeks at the most. As I write this it is 44 years later and I am still in Manitoba particularly in Rosser so something or someone must have made me change my mind.

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