What year did the new water plant come online? I'm thinking 1978. Anyone recall offhand?

<What year did the new water plant come online? I'm thinking 1978. Anyone recall offhand?>

I began working there in october of 1976 and it was fully operational at that time.

I'm told it was 1973. Since it was Al Kelm who knew this, I'm betting he is right!

Is there anyone around who knows about the water plant as it existed in 1985? As I remember, it was across the street from a closed industrial facility that had a large smokestack at least a hundred feet high and maybe 20-30 feet across at the bottom. Both were across the street from a bluff overlooking a river (Yellowstone?). I have many more details, but first is there anyone that might recognize them?

[This message has been edited by Camp Kohler (1/23/2010)]

This sounds like a description of the waste-water (sewage) treatment plant across(?) from the old Milwaukee shops.
Have all of the questions and answers in this thread been about the waste-water plant? It is often necessary to clearly distinguish which "water plant" is being discussed, input water treatment or output waste-water.
Ken Z

Kenny Z Wrote:

This sounds like a description of the waste-water (sewage) treatment plant across(?) from the old Milwaukee shops.
Have all of the questions and answers in this thread been about the waste-water plant? It is often necessary to clearly distinguish which "water plant" is being discussed, input water treatment or output waste-water.
Ken Z

I'll bet you remember back in the Fifties when the sewage was emptied into the Yellowstone at the end of Montana Street; the rumor was the catfish caught in that area were huge! We went down there after school one day and caught a couple of three to four pounders but didn't dare tell my Mom where i caught them as she would have freaked so we told her we caught them in the Tongue...best eating cats i've ever eaten! Anybody else ever catch any cats down there back then

The plant I was inquiring about was clearly an input water treatment plant. The man on duty showed me the sand filters used to clean the water, and, in a room with a large tank in which natural gas was burned to create CO2 to adjust the PH of the water, there was a water meter test and repair station. (I recognized the many parts in the little plastic drawers of an Akro-Mills parts cabinet, because my uncle in San Augustine, TX had the same job and taught me how to repair water meters, which obviously hadn't changed in over 30 years!)

The plant across the street with the huge smokestack didn't seem to me to relate to the word shops (as in repair) as much as it did to some industrial process requiring lots of heat.

Oh, and BTW, all the water in the ponds I saw was clear, and there was... uh, nothing floating in it, if you know what I mean.

[This message has been edited by Camp Kohler (2/9/2010)]