Siding 14 - Ponoka, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 52° 40.697 W 113° 34.473
12U E 325954 N 5839593
Siding 14 as it was known was the 14th siding on the 12 hour trip between Calgary and Edmonton/Strathcona. This siding was later named Ponoka and was incorpated in 1904 and became Ponoka, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WMB7KC
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 04/15/2011
Views: 3
Text from the sign:
Siding 14
The track of the Calgary – Edmonton Railway Company reached this site on June 8, 1891. The uninhabited trackside clearing was simply identified in sequence as “Siding 14” until August of that year, when an unidentified railway employee charged with naming the sidings north of Red Deer designated the townsite “Ponoka”. A Blackfoot word for elk, the name was official recognized when Ponoka incorporated as a town on October 15, 1904.
This siding was a supply point for steam locomotives making the twelve hour run between Edmonton and Calgary. A railway depot built here in 1892-93 provided living quarters for the section crew and caretaker. A large wood water tower which was filled from a reservoir in the nearby Battle River by means of a windmill-driven pump. The decaying timbers of the dam in the riverbed are the oldest reminder of the historical link between the river, the railway, and the community.
Provided by the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation and the Alberta Main Street Programme.