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Brief History
The humble beginnings of Gardiner Dam Terminal began the fall of 1998 with two local farmers phoning Agricore to see if they would like to come out for a meeting to explore the possibilities of an inland grain terminal in the area. Agricore was receptive to the idea and small producer meetings were held throughout the fall with a large public meeting held on December 14, 1998. It was at this meeting where a motion was made to investigate the feasibility of the future of a terminal. Original plans proposed a 14, 000 tonne steel facility. A core group of around 25 farmers met regularly throughout the winter of 1999 and did telephone interviews with the local farmers regarding delivery opportunities and planned seeded acres. It was during this time that seed money to a value of $70,000 was raised to set up an office and create a pool to do the necessary research and up front work to keep the project on the front burner.
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Newsletters and a barbeque were held throughout the year to keep the seed money contributors informed on the progress with the terminal. The fall of 1999 included more meetings and the recruiting and training of salesmen for the share offering. 16 brave people decided to take on the challenge of raising 2.25 million dollars within the local community. Optimism was less then prevalent in the farming atmosphere during the winter of 2000, but by April 15 we had surpassed the minimum requirement of $2.25 million and our terminal was on its way to being built! What a great moment in time that was. Thanks to the salesmen, one of our main goals was reached. We had the necessary funds to build a 17,000 tonne concrete facility between the towns of Strongfield and Loreburn.
A sod turning event was held on June 23, 2000 out on site as well as a supper for the shareholders that night in Loreburn, and the groundwork then began. The amount of rain on the site was a major issue during the groundwork phase, but the project kept on going. FWS Construction, the main contractor, began site work in August.
The pour of the terminal took place the first week of November and the weather was exceptional.
The FWS concrete crew posted a record time for the 6-day pour and it snowed and turned bitterly cold about 5 hours after the pour was complete!
The winter of 2001 involved many construction meetings with both Agricore and FWS as we watched our terminal continue to be built. The Joint Venture Committee kept busy with all of the developments as they happened, usually a crisis on a day -to-day basis to resolve! Well, maybe I'm exaggerating…
As of today, July 19, we have been in our new office for one whole day! Our staff of twelve was ecstatic to move out of the Legion building in Loreburn. Although it served us well, we were having growing pains to get out on site and get into the groove before both the producers and the grain start coming next week.
The staff looks forward to working for and with both the community and its producers that created the work opportunity for them. As the salesmen have been quoting since the share offering party back in April 2000, " bring on the grain!!"
This is a very condensed version of almost three years of commitment and work by numerous individuals in your local communities. To numerous to name, but they know who they are. Between original inspired individuals who made the call, core committee members who maintained the momentum, local farmers who, although intimidated by the nature, turned into a salesmen to reach an incredibly difficult goal, to the Board of Directors and the Joint Venture Committee……..THANK YOU. There are few that know the hours and time dedicated to making the project a success but from those of us who do know…… the terminal is here, because you were here.
Submitted by Barb Martens
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