Edmonton grain elevator defies time separating wheat from the chaff

The Alberta Terminals Limited grain elevatoroncestood as alone sentinel on the western outskirts of thecity.

But now this still-working grain elevatorat127thAvenue and130thStreet has long been surroundedby homes andindustry, so much so that one of thebest views of thegrowing city of Edmontonis from its roof.

Opened by the federal government in 1924 andlaterowned and operated by the province, the elevatorwas purchased by agricultural giant Cargill about a quarter century ago.

"Last year 400,000tons of grain pass through this terminal," says Cargill's Brad Clark.

Seed crops arriveat the terminalfrom Alberta farms andare sorted, cleanedand graded before being loadedonto a train bound forVancouver andthe ocean journey to overseas customers in countries like Japan.

Clark says the terminal may be nearly 100years old, but is equipped withmodern technologysuch asa state-of-the-art colour-sorting camera that literally separates the wheat from the chaff.

You can see more ofthe Cargillgrain elevator on this week's edition of Our Edmonton.

Theweekly magazine show airs on Saturday at 10 a.m. Sunday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 4 p.m. on CBC TV.