The story of National Grain is the story of the Peavey family in Canada. When western Canada was being settled, Frank Peavey had already established an empire of grain elevators across the American West, as well as lake shipping, rail cars and terminals on the Great Lakes and the West Coast. After completing the Canadian Northern Railway between Edmonton and Port Arthur, William Mackenzie and Donald Mann made a rail car available to American grain interests to view the west and select sites for new elevators; Frank Peavey's sons-in-law Frank Heffelfinger and Frederick Wells, along with Augustus Searle and Peavey executives E. Kneeland and Robert Evans, made the tour. After the Winnipeg Grain Exchange had introduced a wheat futures contract, allowing for hedging grain purchases, Heffelfinger and Wells proceeded to form the British America Elevator Company in 1906, with Mackenzie and Mann holding 40% of the capital stock. The agreement was to construct fifty new elevators on northern lines. By 1911, under Kneeland's leadership British America had 100 elevators - most of them in Saskatchewan.

A second company, the Security Elevator Company Ltd. was formed to build elevators on the newly constructed Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (today part of Canadian National Railway). A third company, the National Grain Elevator Company, was formed in 1909 to operate elevators on both Canadian Pacific and Northern lines; in the same year Peavey purchased the Northern Elevator Company, the first line company to be established in the west (in 1893). In 1929 the close association between the Peavey interests and Augustus Searle was ended when the two parties agreed through an exchange of shares to divest their joint interests; Searle merged his grain interests into the new Searle Grain Company. In 1940 the Peavey companies (British America, Northern, National, and Grand Trunk Pacific Elevator) were merged to form National Grain Company Limited, with George Heffelfinger, son of Frank Heffelfinger, as president. The new company had close to 400 elevators.

National Grain did not participate in direct overseas selling. An opportunity arose in the late 1960s, when the McCabe Grain Company was dispersed, to acquire the expertise needed to trade internationally. In 1967 United Grain Growers purchased the McCabe elevators; Peavey interests purchased the feed and seed components. The McCabe company still existed with its experienced merchandising staff, but had no physical facilities. In 1971 Heffelfinger and McCabe merged their interests to form National Grain Ltd., George Heffelfinger remaining president. Shortly after this merger the Peavey interests decided to reduce their dependence on commodities and began to seek a buyer for their Canadian grain and feed operations. Cargill Grain, already a massive diversified grain company located primarily in the United States, became the buyer: National Grain Ltd. was amalgamated with a Cargill Canadian subsidiary on January 1, 1975, to become Cargill Grain Company Ltd. National Feed and Livestock Ltd. became Cargill Nutrena Feeds Ltd.

Gary Storey

During the Second World War, the National War Finance Committee was established by the Minister of Finance to organize, advertise and conduct all public loans used to finance Canada’s war effort.
They undertook a series of nine Victory Loan campaigns, promoting the sale of war bonds, war savings certificates and war savings stamps. Local committees were organized to promote sales in each community.
The chair of the Moose Jaw committee was Guy R. Tretheway, K.C.. The Campaign office was located at 16 High Street East. The Moose Jaw committee produced high per capita results for every drive.

Osmund Naverseth was born in Sogndal, Norway on September 25, 1909. He emigrated to Scotsguard, Saskatchewan from Bergen, Norway on March 13, 1928 to farm. He reported for war service with the Royal Norwegian Air Force on June 26, 1942. The Henderson’s Directory for that year lists he and his wife Bertha as living at 476 Selwyn, Moose Jaw. Osmund was struck off strength on October 28, 1942, and honourably discharged on medical grounds in Toronto, Ontario on April 3, 1946 having achieved the rank of leading aircraftman. Osmund received the King Haakon VII medal for his service to Norway during the war.

After the war, Osmund worked as a salesman for the Western Ice Company until the early 1960’s when he became a taxi driver for Amil’s Taxi. Bertha Naverseth died October 2, 1966.

It is not known when Osmund Naverseth died.

James Maurice Naylor was born in Hawarden, Saskatchewan on February 22, 1920. Following service with the RCAF during World War II, he entered the University of Saskatchewan, earning a BSA (1949) and an M.Sc. (1950). He continued his postgraduate work at the University of Wisconsin, receiving a PhD in botany in 1953. He joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1953 as Assistant Professor in Agriculture, and moved to the Department of Biology in 1961. He was promoted to Full Professor in 1964 and was named Head of the Department in 1968, a position which he held for five years. Professor Naylor instigated the Division of Life Sciences, and, with Ray Skinner, formed the Saskatoon Committee for the Control of Radiation Hazards. He also served as Chairman of the Faculty Association. He died in Saskatoon on September 5, 1984.

Trophy honouring Dr. Neil B. Hutcheon who was professor of Mechanical Engineering from 1937-1953.