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| I visited family in Pennsylvania earlier this year and noticed a lot of watertowers. Each community seemed to have their own tower. Often the town's name was on the tower or it was unique in some other way. I decided to include pictures of watertowers as part of my web site for the Big Ride 2004. They will be organized by state at first and later if I have more pictures by riding day or week. The West has lots of mountains and hills, so sometimes there is no need for a watertower to provide water pressure for the town. Below are the towers I photographed in the state of Washington. |
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| The town of George (Martha is nearby) has an excellent tall tower.This style of construction is probably around 30 years old or more. | Ellensburg had a town hidden on a hill on the way out of town. This style is a standard big tank sitting on the ground on a hill. Each of these tanks provide water at a high point above town so all the toilets will flush and the showers will be strong. |
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| Odessa was our stop on the third night of the ride. Their water tank is like Ellensburg's, a steel tank up on the hill. Can you see it? | Davenport, on the other hand, has a tower similar to George's. Raised up on steel lets with the column in the center for water to flow to the town. |
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| This modern curved steel tower was on the way into Spokane up on the airport heights. Many towers that look like this are being built. I've heard that there are construction teams that specialize in these watertowers and travel the country building them. | On the way out of Spokane, to the north, I saw this ancient tower. I doubt that it is still in use, but it might be. I couldn't get close enough to see the construction, but it's probably an early steel plate model. Maybe even riveted. |
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The tower on the left was out in the country on the way to Sand Point from Spokane, There must be a community near by that uses the water from this system. Often, small rural communities form a water district just for the purpose of providing water. A tower is frequently part of that district. |
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The email I'll use this summer is brucesherman@mac.com. Send mail to this address to say hello and I'll be able to read it on the ride.
