page_title: Humboldt, Saskatchewan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Humboldt, Saskatchewan / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Humboldt Telegraph Station
context_page_description: Humboldt is a city in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located 113 km east of Saskatoon at the junction of Highway 5 and Highway 20. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Humboldt No. 370.
context_section_description: 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 the only 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 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, 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 also called St. Peter's Colony established by Benedictine monks from St John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Immigration to the area from both the Northern Plains states of the US and Germany was promoted by the German American Land Company. Many immigrants from the German Empire settled in areas in and around Humboldt such as Muenster, Fulda, Pilger, St Gregor and Englefeld. Immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ethnic Germans settled in the area west of Humboldt and south of the hamlet of Carmel.
  After being established as a community, Humboldt became an important location in Saskatchewan previously known as the "Heart of the Sure Crop District" for its reliable growing weather, which led the town to become a centre for farming equipment and supply businesses.
caption: Humboldt Telegraph Station (circa 1885)
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