Have you ever wondered why Humboldt was built around the railyard and train station? Yes, the telegraph station and the Carlton Trail are historically significant and important to Humboldt, I am not saying otherwise.
What I am saying is that when the steel rails came through, they brought to Humboldt settlers in larger numbers than the Carlton Trail ever could. They also brought large quantities of the goods and materials that were crucial to Humboldt's progress and prosperity. That is why Humboldt is built around the railway.
But there is much more to say regarding the train station. For immigrant settlers, it was their first sight of Humboldt, a sight many carried in their memories all their lives. The station was the place where the boys went off to fight two world wars. Tragically, for some of them, it was the last they ever saw of Humboldt because they never came home from those wars. Their families remembered the last time they saw their loved one was at the station.
When I walk by that station, I see the ghosts of all the people who passed through there: soldiers, sailors, airmen, settlers, immigrants looking for a better life, politicians, Canada's Governor General Earl Grey and his wife, the young, the old, men and women. I see them all. They won't be there if the station isn't there. That would be a very large loss.
In my opinion, that train station is the single most important historical sight in Humboldt and must be preserved and restored. It is a central part of Humboldt's soul and you cannot put a price on a soul.
