But time has taken a toll on the old steel giant. Its paint is chipping, cedar shingles are blowing off and its wooden ladder is rotten and unsafe. Last year, an engineering study estimated it would cost $414,000 to refurbish the tower. Wetaskiwin City Council, knowing that the tower is situated on a prime piece of developable land, toyed with the possibility that perhaps it should be demolished.

Now a small and dedicated group of local citizens, led by Terry Hoffman, has launched an ambitious fund-raising campaign to save the beloved tower. Other communities need to build towers to be their landmarks, but weve had ours for nearly a century, he explains. We must not just throw away this chunk of our history.

In February, the Wetaskiwin Memorial Fund Society, on which Hoffman serves, began collecting donations for the towers rejuvenation. Theyve since raised more than $70,000 from generous donors from as far away as Arizona. Their goal is $125,000 and the society is hoping for a matching grant from the Alberta government and a centennial grant for 2005, when Wetaskiwin will play host to the Alberta Senior Games.

While researching the towers history for the campaign, Hoffman discovered that it could well be the oldest operating water tower still standing in western Canada. His research also reveals that the tower was constructed by the Ontario Wind Engine and Pump Company, the firm that made many of the water towers in Canada in the early years of the 20th century.

Like the Ford Model Ts of the time, the tower came in black. Its leg supports and tank were constructed of steel, while a wooden enclosure on the outside of the tank acted as an insulator to keep the cold winter winds from freezing the 100,000 gallons (454,000 litres) of water inside. That amount of water is enough to nearly fill one of Edmontons indoor swimming pools.

Over the years, the color has gone from black to white and more recently was dressed up with some colour and a WETASKIWIN designation, drawn by students who won a local competition. What hasnt changed for nearly a century is its basic function, which is to supply water to houses and businesses. Its 136-foot height gives it the enormous power of gravity and the tower acts as a giant pressure relief valve, should there be a sudden surge in water pressure. It protects the system against damage, Hoffman notes.

Driving towards Wetaskiwin from any direction, the 10-storey tower is the first visible sign of the settlement. Wetaskiwins next highest structures are just three stories. Like the prairie grain elevators, water towers have long been the signature landmarks of their communities but most of them have also vanished.

Nearby communities of Camrose, Ponoka and Leduc have demolished their water towers and Rimbey is preparing to yank theirs down. Last year, Hintons 1955 tower came tumbling down from the force of dynamite and steel-cutting explosives.

Just a few Alberta communities, aware of the heritage value, have managed to spare theirs. The tower in Lethbridge was saved when a developer agreed to make it into a restaurant.

Yet time and gravity have taken their toll and the Wetaskiwin water tower is now unsafe to climb. Several times a year, workers are hoisted by crane to change the lights in the 12-metre high antennas and to make sure the steel drum holding all that water is in satisfactory condition.

If the money to save the tower isnt raised, it will be demolished at a cost of about $200,000. That would be a terrible loss, Hoffman says. Weve been told that if it is refurbished, it could last another 100 years. What a great legacy that would be.

Wetaskiwins service groups have also thrown their support behind the project, as has City Council, which has named the rejuvenation of the water tower as a Centennial project for its 100th anniversary in 2006.

>If you'd like to contribute to the fundraising campaign, donations can be mailed to the Wetaskiwin Memorial Fund Society, PO Box 6641, Wetaskiwin, AB, T9A 2G3.

If youd like to offer your thoughts, please drop me an email at lawrenceherzog@hotmail.com. For information on reprints of previously published articles, check out my website at www.lawrenceherzog.com