Looking at all the people who commented on our video of the flour mill coming down, the response was overwhelming.
Many people shared their memories of going to the flour mill as a kid.
Others shared memories of the years working at the mill.
Looking at all these wonderful memories, my question becomes why wasn’t something done before the whole building came crashing down?
Speaking with Kristen Hoppe with the K&D/Prime Time Drilling Inc., the flour mill was structurally sound and fairly clean, minus the build up of dirt and muck from being abandoned for eight years.
It took Hoppe numerous attempts to bring the building down.
And especially with the equipment that was in the building, it had to be structurally maintained.
So what came down on Mar. 1 was a building with historical significance to Humboldt that had nothing wrong with it.
There are numerous historic buildings along main street. Fourteen were built before 1920 and are completely functioning.
These fourteen buildings are a sign that we can keep history alive while still progressing forward.
Progress does not mean destroying the past.
And slowly but surely the many buildings of the Humboldt Flour Mill came down.
I see the other side of it.
What could have been done with the flour mill? Who would have taken on the task of taking care of it?
Many ideas were thrown around; low-income housing for one, although I’m not sure how feasible this idea was.
It does take people stepping up to take care of historical buildings.
The water tower is a prime example of this.
The committee work, the hours of cleaning, the money and energy people gave to ensure it was not torn down.
I know not everyone has the time or resources to contribute to projects like this all the time but how do we keep our history if we keep losing buildings like the flour mill?
One thing that fascinates me is the drive to urban centres from rural.
According to Statistics Canada, the population of rural Saskatchewan is now at 33 per cent of the entire population in 2011.
We need to preserve our rural history if this way of life continues to disappear.
How long before the rural population shrinks to a miniscule amount?
Who is going to protect that history of rural Saskatchewan?
