![[flag of Humboldt]](../images/c/ca-skhum.gif)
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by Ivan Sache, 21 April 2018
Last modified: 2018-05-11 by rob raeside
Keywords: humboldt | saskatchewan |
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by Ivan Sache, 21 April 2018
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The City of Humboldt is named after Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769 -
1859), a world famous German scientist and naturalist, who traveled extensively
in Central and South America.
The name “Humboldt” was approved in 1875
for the site in the Northwest Territories along the Canadian Pacific Telegraph
Line at which a repair station was built (8 km south west of the present city
site). The only permanent inhabitants of the area were the telegraph operators,
linemen and their families and members of the North West Mounted Police. The
station played an integral part in communications for the developing west and in
the Métis Resistance of 1885 at Batoche.
Humboldt secured its
significance in Canadian history in 1885. With the Métis Resistance led by Louis
Riel taking place at Batoche just 100 km north west, Humboldt became the
important communication link between Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and his
forces in the west. It was also a site of strategic importance. General
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
telegraph line further west was periodically cut, so the Humboldt Station was
crucial as the last secure link to the east. On May 1, 1885, Humboldt became the
site of a large supply depot under Maj. Lt.-Colonel G.T. Denison, of the
Governor Generals Body Guard. A combined force of approximately 460 men built an
elaborate series of entrenchments, which converted the station into a fortified
military encampment to protect the supplies. The troops left Humboldt in July
1885.
With the increasing development of western Canada, settlers were
arriving in the area at the turn of the century. The history of Humboldt was
influenced by the establishment of St. Peter’s Colony by the
Benedictine
monks. In search of suitable land to establish a new colony, Father Bruno
Doerfler, O.S.B. and businessmen from Minnesota arrived in Winnipeg in 1902 –
traveling as far west as Calgary, up to Wetaskiwin, east to Battleford, and
arrived in Saskatoon on August 27, after 400 miles by team and wagon. The
businessmen formed the German American Land Company in 1903 and purchased
100,000 acres of the railroad land in the district to sell to settlers who
wanted more land than a quarter section. The company enticed German Catholics
living in the United States to homestead in St. Peter’s Colony by boasting that
there were “churches and schools and German neighbors in the district, which
also offers [sic] the best in material matters, the spiritual advice and
activity lies in the hands of the Benedictine fathers.”
The Canadian Northern
railway provided an essential route to the new community upon its arrival in
September 1904. By May 1905, the first of the passenger trains arrived and the
district flourished. The name Humboldt was transferred to the village in 1905
and it became a town in 1907. Humboldt became Saskatchewan’s thirteenth city in
November 2000.
http://www.humboldtmuseum.ca/content/humboldt-history: City website
Humboldt was named, way back in 1918, as the heart of the sure crop district.
https://www.discoverhumboldt.com/local/museum-featuring-a-new-display:
Discover Humboldt website
Ivan Sache, 21 April 2018
![[flag of Humboldt]](../images/c/ca-skhum.jpg)
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by David Fowler, 8 April 2018
The flags of Canada and Humboldt, Saskatchewan, were lowered to half-staff
following a tragic crash that killed 15 members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey
team. A photograph, also visible on the website of
The Star, was posted on
https://www.facebook.com/groups/flagsoftheworld/permalink/2068771173137594/,
and shows the flag with just the city name.
Peter Hans van den
Muijzenberg, 17 April 2018
