The Crescent Elevator Company was a McCabe company from its inception in 1922 and it was merged into Victoria (another McCabe Elevator Co. Ltd company) in 1928, which was itself merged into McCabe Brothers Grain Company in 1929.
It is one of those esoteric companies that has little written about it. Charles Anderson says that most of its elevators were in south-central Saskatchewan but it had, in addition to its 17 in Saskatchewan (see below), two elevators in Manitoba, one in Manitou (1927-1928), and one in Roland (1926-1928), and one in Alberta (at Duchess, 1923-1928).
The Manitou elevator had been a Manitoba Elevator Commission (MEC) elevator, built in 1909 and purchased from R. J. Chalmers in 1911, It was then leased by the Grain Growers’ Grain Company until 1917, and then the United Grain Growers. But it reverted to the Manitoba government in 1924, and was sold to Crescent in 1926, before being merged into Victoria in 1928 - which was itself then merged into McCabe in 1929.
The Roland elevator was also an MEC elevator, built by Dominion Elevator in 1895, and sold to the MEC in 1910, remodelled in 1912 and then rented to T. H. Lytle until 1916-1917. It was then then sold to Lytle in 1917 and then to Crescent in 1926. It then seems to have gone back to Lytle in 1927 and then to McCabe in 1928. The McCabe, Victoria, and Crescent situation in Roland was quite involved – all three companies were present in Roland at one time or another between 1906 and 1929, with all three being there in 1926 and perhaps in 1927. The picture was further complicated by Roland having Canadian Northern/Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Great Northern lines at this time.)
Charles Anderson’s book suggests that Crescent had always been a ‘ready-made’ McCabe company since its formation in 1922. The Crescent elevators were, however, acquired over time – from 1922-1927 (see below). Anderson also says there were never more than 16 elevators – the number he says were merged into Victoria in 1928 – although I can only find at most 15 that went to Victoria, out of twenty that Crescent owned at one time or another. The others were sold to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (4 – one in 1925) or disappeared (1 – burned in 1926?). Crescent’s elevators were obtained from nine different companies (the largest number – three – from Canadian), with eight of the twenty being ‘new builds’ (see below).
The multi-company model followed by McCabes, as well as some other elevator companies, makes the explanation of their strategies less than easy. Anderson suggests evidence that Victoria was set up as (part of?) a deliberate strategy by McCabe to ‘invade’ Alberta Pacific territory (A-P was then the largest private company). Perhaps Crescent was used in a similar way, but I could find no suggestive evidence for this. This was certainly a plan of action followed by several other elevator companies. But it could also be seen as part of a wider (and again not-uncommon) tactic to confuse the farmers into thinking that there was more competition than existed. It might also have reflected an attempt to disguise ownership, and perhaps lower asking prices when elevators were purchased. None of these explanations clearly accord with this case study, however. It might simply be that different members of the McCabe family operated their own mini lines, until the great consolidation of the late 1920s made this uneconomic.
Communities with Crescent elevators: Duchess AB, Manitou and Roland MB, Amazon, Brightmore, Brownlee, Cardross, Cullen, Dahinda, Kayville, La Fleche, Lake Valley, Milestone, Radville, Renown, Souris Valley, Stalwart, Vantage, Weyburn, and Yellow Grass – all SK.
Years elevators purchased: 1922 (6), 1923 (4), 1924 (0), 1925 (5), 1926 (1), 1927 (4).
Previous owners of Crescent elevators: Farmers companies (2), MEC (1), Federal (1), T. H. Lytle/MEC (1), Canadian (3), Warner (2), Spencer (1), Beaver (1), and new builds (8).
See also:
Manitoba Business: McCabe Elevator Company / McCabe Brothers Grain Company / McCabe Grain Company
Grain: The Entrepreneurs by Charles W. Anderson, Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer, 1991.
This page was prepared by John Everitt.
Page revised: 12 September 2025
