This is a treasure trove of stories that reach beyond the buildings of timber and nails and put a human face on the history of these towering structures that once represented prosperity and stability on the prairie landscape. Through a series of biographical sketches and photographs, this book portrays a vivid picture of life in and around prairie grain elevators over the past century; how they influenced the communities that depended on them; and how they molded the lives of farmers and elevator agents and their wives and children. McLachlan's own experience, following her husband to nine communities in 20 years as he toiled in the grain dust, is central to her deft and vivid descriptions of lives shaped by the grain industry.