Humboldt

History

Named after German explorer Alexander von Humboldt, Humboldt began as a telegraph station located on the Carlton Trail, a wagon route used in the early days of western Canada as a route from Fort Garry (Winnipeg) to Fort Edmonton. The name "Humboldt" was approved in 1875 for a site in the North-West Territories along the Canadian Pacific Telegraph Line at which a repair station was built (8 km south-west of the present city site). Built in 1878, the Humboldt telegraph station played an integral part in communications for the developing West. With the Métis uprising led by Louis Riel taking place at Batoche just 100 km northwest, Humboldt became an important communication link between Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and his forces in the West, thus a site of strategic significance. General Frederick Middleton arrived in April 1885 with 950 soldiers, established a garrison at the station, and used it as his base for scouting operations. At that time, the Humboldt station was crucial, since the telegraph line further west was periodically cut so Humboldt was the last secure link to the East. On May 1, 1885, Humboldt became the site of a large supply depot under Lieutenant-Colonel George Taylor Denison III of the Governor General's Body Guard. A combined force of approximately 460 men built an elaborate series of entrenchments, converting the station into a fortified military encampment to protect the supplies. The troops left Humboldt in July 1885. The area was also the site of the first stagecoach robbery in Western Canada. Parts of the Carlton Trail in the form of wagon tracks/ruts still exist in the Humboldt area. Humboldt in its beginnings was primarily German Catholic. It became the largest settlement in the Territorial Abbey of Saint Peter-Muenster…