Submitted by Lorna Pearson
Correspondent
It’s human nature to collect. Some collect stamps, cameras, dishes, dolls, thimbles. You name it, someone will collect it. It’s interesting when we find another person collecting the same thing. This is what happened when Jack Robson and Warren Iverson met each other. They discovered they had both been collecting photographs of Saskatchewan grain elevators.
This had gone on for several years and finally Iverson decided their collection of photographs should be printed. By this time, between the two of them, they had more than 2,000 photographs. Iverson needed that number pared down, so he could take his USB stick in to have one photo per elevator printed. At that rate he would only have to purchase five or six photo albums to hold roughly 1,000 photos.
Last winter he asked Trudy Janssens if she would be willing look at all the photos on his USB stick and pick out one photograph of each location. Often there would be three or four images to choose from. It was important to select clear images, but it was also important that the image show there were several elevators in many of the prairie towns. This process took a month to accomplish and during that month Trudy suggested it might be cheaper to have the images printed into a book instead photos in albums
The idea of printing a coffee table book took shape. All the images had to be horizontal, even though many of the photographs were taken vertically. Hence a Saskatchewan Pool map became the horizontal background that vertical photographs could be positioned on top of. Often the name on the elevator had long since disappeared or was never there in the first place, so a font was selected and most photographs had the place name typed right on the image.
As a retired photographer, Janssens has Photoshop skills that helped immensely to bring out the best in the photos. Routine colour correction, cropping and retouching were applied. Working on the project during COVID-19 proved to be just what was needed to bring the it along.
The first of three proof books was printed. It was obvious many of the photos would benefit by having an smaller image inserted that showed rows of elevators from the hay day of elevators in Saskatchewan. The original proof book had roughly 1,100 photos but the second proof book had more than 1,450 photos.
Time was spent to add the names of many of the towns and checking for accuracy took many hours, days and months. In the end, a printer was found in Saskatoon who would produce the book at a much lower price then was initially anticipated.
The final book is now ready for a press run. The book has 1,128 images, with several inserts to show multiple elevators in many towns. Robson and Iverson are confident there are only a few elevators missing. It has been decided to print 100 books. If there is enough interest, a second printing will be done in the fall.
Contact Warren Iverson of Meota at 306-892-2229 if you’d like a copy of The Book of Saskatchewan Grain Elevators.
