Believe it or not, the remnants one of Ponoka’s earliest historical sites, the C.P.R. Railway dam on the Battle River, still stand to this day just across the street from the Royal Hotel and down the hill.
The sturdy and solid wooden structure had many purposes; including providing the water to be pumped up to the tower to feed countless steam engines on the Edmonton/Calgary line, as well as a holding pond for the thousands of logs that came down the river from Pigeon Lake to the local mills.
Built in 1891, the dam was also a great place for fishing, swimming, a romantic stroll along the river, or just plain old ‘train watching’.