Dusting Off the Old Ones (8)

Miles City's first water plant was located on the site now occupied by the Montana-Dakota Utilities Company's power house. The water was taken from a well 20 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep, which was dug on these premises. This well proved inadequate. Another well was dug on the Northern Pacific right-of-way. Perhaps you have noticed in recent years that the pavement has sunk to quite an extent on this intersection of South 8 Street and the N. P. right-of-way. This pavement has now been repaired but it could be that that was the site of the second well. This second well did not meet the needs of a growing town, so another well was dug on the right-of-way just east of the present site of the Nugent transfer office. Still the supply was inadequate, and the next move was to Tongue River for a supply connecting the river from a point on the west side of Riverside Park to the pumping plant with some tile pipe. This connection provided unsatisfactory, so a pumping plant was established on Tongue River, between the old wagon bridge and the Northern Pacific bridge. When the water was high and muddy, the supply in the town was often chocolate brown. This facility met the demands until 1909 or 1910 when the present plant was built on the banks of the Yellowstone. The first plant was built by the Miles City Water and Electric Light Company in 1887, That same year Miles City was incorporated. A man by the name of Berthold Ullman was engineer and technician when the first plan was constructed. The water company got into financial difficulties in the early nineties, and the city bought back the plant from the Receiver of the Stockgrowers National Bank.