Riverview Park and Zoo Water Pump and Valve - Peterborough, Ontario, Canada - Preserved Machines on Public Display on Waymarking.com

There are two pieces of equipment on public display in the Riverview Park and Zoo. They are located near the entrance to the Orientation Centre, near the Park and Zoo Office (Location #4 on the Park and Zoo Map). There are no signs or plaques and no information online to tell what the two pieces.

The first appears to be a water pump, and was possibly used to draw water from the Otonabee River for use as source water to the water treatment plant. The other is a large gate value. Given the proximity to the water treatment building, it is likely that they were used in pumping water from the river to the treatment plant, or for pumping treated water to the city distribution system. Or they were used to pump water to the city for fire protection towards the end of the 19th century and sometime into the 29th century. The pieces are clearly set up for display, being mounted on concrete pads. They were pained in blue and silver, but are in need to repainting.

The pump contains the markings "BUILT BY WATEROUR BRANTFORD, CANADA"

Based on information from Wikipedia, the large pump may be a steam engine built sometime between 1864 and 1884:

The Waterous Engine Works was a famous Canadian farm and road engine builder. It made farm, road rollers and steam pumper fire equipment. It also made factory steam engines and marine engines. Many of their engines survive to this day in museums.

Founder C.H. Waterous was a machinist who apprenticed and ran a few firms. He eventually set up C. H. Waterous and Co in 1864 and it built a factory in Brantford, Ontario.

Using designs from Ohioan engine maker D. June, Waterous built the Champion line of steam portable engines. These were quite successful and thousands were constructed.

Later, the twin sons of the founder moved west to Winnipeg and set up a factory. They later moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and established a branch of the Waterous name there in 1884. It made fire hydrants and fire equipment. This branch of the company is still in business.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterous_Engine_Works_Co._Ltd.; Accessed May 25, 2018

Type of Machine: Steam pump and gate valve Year the machine was built: late 1800's (estimate) Year the machine was put on display: Not listed Is there online documentation for this machine: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   04/11/2022 TAAJM visited it