t is a little piece of history that, thanks to the hard work of so many people, has been protected.
And this summer, visitors are making sure they take in the Humboldt Water Tower tours put on by the Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery.
This is the second summer the Water tower has been open, which makes for busy times for Museum staff, including summer interns like Abby McGillivray. Everyone is amazed at the view they get after climbing the 143 steps, she says, but there are other parts of the tour that come as a surprise, even to people have lived here their whole lives.
“You don’t often get to see that high up anywhere so it’s cool that you can.”
Giving the tour has been fun, says McGillivray, because everyone comes away from the tour excited.
The 80 foot tall water tower was constructed in 1914-1915 by Chipman and Power, the same company that supplied a lot of the manhole covers in the city.
Water was pumped first from Burton Lake to supply town residents with their water but was then pumped from Stoney Lake, now Humboldt Lake, after Burton’s water levels took a significant drop.
Before being pumped out to Humboldt homes, water went through an extensive water filtration and softening system, all of which is still on display.
Besides talking about the water tower itself, there was also extensive work done to restore the building by the water tower committee.
Work started in 1997 even before the committee was formed to keep the city from destroying the structure. After that, it was a matter of putting in the countless hours to clean, restore, and re-purpose the existing structure.
Humboldt Museum and Gallery Director, Jennifer Fitzpatrick, says that the summer has been great with the staff working to accommodate as many people as possible.
“There are restrictions for safety concerns about how many people can tour at a time so we’ve just been trying to manage all the sites that we run.”
Official water tower hours go to August 30 and is open on Wednesdays from 10 am to 1 pm, and Friday and Saturdays from 1:30 to 4:30 pm.
Fitzpatrick says that anyone looking for a tour at anytime, even after August 30, can arrange one by calling the Museum at, 1-306-682-5226.
Special days for the fall are in the works and will be posted on the Museum website, www.humboldtmuseum.ca.
