Onarc
Where’s this now? Onarch? Wait, no, it’s Onarc. Moving about a bit…ohhhh, Monarch…now we get it. Guess we should open our eyes more. Here’s a little village in Alberta, home a couple hundred folks, just a bit west of Lethbridge. At one time the highway ran right through the place, but on being bypassed, the community’s a quiet backwater now. The only sound heard, outside the occasional barking pooch, was the horn of a passing train. But soon it’s gone and the silence returns.
And over there, the tallest thing in town. We’ll it had some competition in the old days – long gone now, there used to some grain elevators over by the tracks. So this is Monarch’s water tower. It’s said to have been brought in here from the town of Taber (east of Lethbridge) in around 1984. From what we can find it stood in that earlier community at least since the 1940s. Got to wonder what one of these costs used?
One peaceful night, the stars are out and there we are standing in the dark snapping photos of the thing, much to the amusement of an old couple watching us from their yard. It looked as though they thought us crazy. That’s badge we wear often…so we smiled and waved and they ran inside.
For railway use…
Canadian Pacific Railway octagonal water tower.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
If you need any more information on what we talked about here, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: Oct, 2018.
Location: Monarch, AB.
In Onarch…
…Or is that Onarc?
That water tower came down recently.
We’re back! Oh, thanks for the update. Glad we captured it when we did.
Love the ‘Onarch’ photo! I checked Kijiji…there is a water tower near Oyen for sale for $55K….in case you wanted one!
Getting out my cheque book! We could put it in our back yard and I’m certain the neighbours wouldn’t mind. Since “Onarc/Onarch” we’ve been thinking more about old water towers. Might have to find some more to shoot.
My great aunt and uncle Gerritt and Macy Koole lived right near that water tower in Monarch for years. Their home was a blue bungalow almost right on the highway as you passed by the town. Thanks Chris & Connie for sharing.
Another person connected to the place. We’ve heard from so many. Glad you liked it Adele! They were quick and easy shots, but turned out nice.
Great mood lighting!
Thanks for liking it.
Spent a year there replacing the sewer lines and man….I could tell you stories!
I don’t want to know…yes I do!
You’re getting pretty good at this night photography thing.
Thanks Mike. So love in town or in city night photography. It’s challenging and the results satisfying.
What has happened to the grain business? Not from Canada so just asking.
It’s still there. Only the small country grain elevator, used to load grain on railcars, has been replaced by huge “inland terminals” at select places. The farmer need only drive a short distance to sell his grain in the old days. Not so much anymore.
I remember that tank!!! Omg, it’s been a long time!!!
The memories come flooding back…
first rate photography!
Thank you John! We try hard and sometimes it even pays off.
That tower was originally from Taber, and was one of two that served the town, on the north and south sides. Both were originally bright red. The south side tower was dismantled and scrapped. The north side tower was moved to Monarch via Highway 36, the “Turin road”, Highway 25 and Highway 23 in 1984. I watched it go past our farm on the Turin road.
Thanks Gord. That’s interesting. What a job to move it!
Not many water towers left standing in Alberta.
So true and some I understand are threatened, so photograph them now before they’re gone.