Historic Spillway Dam - Ponoka, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 52° 40.534 W 113° 34.507
12U E 325905 N 5839293
This dam was constructed in the late 1800's at Siding 14, which later became the Town of Ponoka, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WMB7DK
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 04/14/2011
Views: 4
Text from the plaque>
The first train into Siding 14 (later the Town of Ponoka) arrived on July 27, 1891. A few years later, in 1892-93 the train station was built.
A log dam had been built in the riverbed to support a spillway which permitted logs from Pigeon Lake to be floated downstream to a sawmill on the Battle River.
Later the dam created a reservoir from which a windmill pumped water into a wooden tower by the tracks. This water was used to fuel the steam trains that passed through the town each day.
The water tower was dismantled in the 1950’s as steam engines gave way to diesel locomotives. The railway depot was demolished May 15, 1968. Remnants of the dam remain the oldest structure in the Town of Ponoka."