The
McTavish reservoir is located nearly in the center of McGill University's
campus. From what we hear, in Fall 2002 it was, and probably still is,
the primary holding tank and distribution point for the city of Montreal's
water supply. It is 37 million gallons of water nestled 26 feet deep into
the side of Mount Royal.
Originally completed in 1856, it was an open-air reservoir with a capacity
of 13.5 million gallons. Over a century or so, it has been renovated to
its current size and is now fully underground, covered by a simple grass
field.
The reservoir is accompanied by the elegant, castle-like pump house which
was originally completed in 1932. It contains 12 massive pumps that extract
water from the not-so-nearby St.Laurence river. These days, the pump house
is fully automated, and thusly unmanned, which we didn't mind at all,
of course.
The importance of this site to the city of Montreal makes it a big no-no
to enter without authorization. This fact, along with the age and uniqueness
of the site make for an alluring destination for urban exploration.
We had known from the beginning that the reservoir existed. We had discounted
the pump house as a possible entrance point since visits to it never revealed
an entrance, and after our discovery of the main system of steam tunnels
on campus, we had hoped to find an access point from underground. In the
end, it turned out to be a simple stroll after a failed expedition and
random luck which granted us access to the reservoir.
Renovation was being done on the small road between the field and the
pump house. We won't go
into detail, but we just happened to be strolling by the pump house when
an apparent construction accident caught our eye. Right place, right time;
we slipped inside. This was our first trip into the bowels of the reservoir.
We made three trips in total. During the first we cautiously worked our
way through the lower levels of the pump house, and were absolutely amazed
once we came across the reservoir itself.
What we found was a large, underground path around the reservoir tanks.
The tank walls are made of concrete and lined with faint lamps, while
the walls that make up the perimeter are simply roughly-cut stone like
those of a cave. The entire place was dark, wet, echo-y with drips of
water, and huge.
We explored
most of the reservoir area, as well was the two sets of wonderful steam tunnels that branch off from
there. We're certain we could have explored the place in its entirety
on our first trip, but we were already late for our Journal de Montreal
interview and decided to get going. We knew we'd be back.
And back we came. During our second trip we discovered that we could travel
between some of the tank sections via very narrow passageways, but our
main focus was to explore the rest of the pump house.
The pump house was unimaginably interesting. It has been essentially abandonned
for many years. There was water leaking in various places and decay was
starting to set in. There were rooms that used to be inhabited long ago,
and machinery galore.
All was going well until we came across the small area of what we believe
is the main entrance. "Was it an alarm?", you ask? Boy was it ever.
We had set off a motion detector, and not one of those simple "clicky"
ones either. Well, it did click, and we noticed it, and we turned right
around... but before we could even take two steps back a blood curdling
siren started blaring at us. This was our exit cue. We ran, and ran, and
all the while it seemed like the siren was itself chasing us.
And we escaped! But you knew that. Because we're good. *coughdamnluckycough*
Actually, the way out we chose is probably not in any kind of official
use anymore, and we were probably quite safe.
A funny thing to point out is that during the escape Mokonax had lost
one of his gloves and was paranoid that it could somehow be traced back
to him. After scoping out the scene for about half an hour from outdoors
and afar, we heard no more siren and saw no activity. Boldly, and perhaps
foolishly, we went back inside and retrieved Mokonax's glove. What a relief.
As mentioned before, we made a third trip to the beloved reservoir. We
couldn't resist. But alas, during this third trip we encountered things
that were undoubtedly responses to our having set off the alarm. Key doors
were locked, which made exploration of unseen areas impossible. Though
it was still a nice visit, and a good au revoir to the reservoir. It even
ended similarly. Mokonax and Tux thought they heard voices, and what followed
was a mad dash to the exit where a couple of mishaps might have led to
serious injury, but thankfully didn't.
The reservoir is probably
one of those things we were really lucky to have seen. All of us considered
it fate that we happened to walk up there that day. We hope we've done
the place justice, because it really is amazing, and that you enjoy our
gallery.
And if you're interested in historical information, check this site.
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