The founding of Alberton traces back to the iconic Milwaukee Railroad, which began its push to the Pacific Coast in the early 1900s. The route ultimately led through a narrow corridor along the Clark Fork River just west of Missoula.

What Alberton residents have experienced over the past two years, however, represents something much larger, which is an investment in the town’s ability to move forward in the 21st century.

Charlei Jenkins, Alberton’s water and wastewater manager, has overseen many of those changes since taking the position two years ago. He explained that the town’s new water tank is not a replacement, but an addition. 

“It’s not replacing the old one,” Jenkins said. “It’s in addition to the 300,000-gallon water tank that was installed in 1968. It is still in very good condition.” 

The existing tank was inspected last July by professional divers, who conducted a full assessment and removed sediment from the bottom. 

“They were like, ‘Yeah, it’s looking great,’” Jenkins added. 

The new tank will hold 200,000 gallons and will sit near the existing structure. Once connected, the combined system will provide Alberton with a total of 500,000 gallons of potable water capacity.

While population growth might seem like the obvious reason for expansion, Jenkins said that’s not the primary driver.

 “Not exactly,” he said. “It’s more for peak demand during the summertime, when lawns and gardens are being watered and overall consumption increases, but especially for fire flow. It ensures we have the water available if there’s a devastating fire.”

Paul Montgomery of Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers in Helena serves as the engineer of record for the project, as well as for the town’s broader water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. The new tank is part of a 20-year water master plan developed for Alberton. Construction work residents have seen around town began in fall 2024 and wrapped up in September 2025. 

“The tank was initially part of that project,” Jenkins said, “but due to funding and other constraints, we had to scale it back and break it into separate phases.”

As part of those upgrades, a 10-inch trunk line now runs along Railroad Avenue, and side streets have been improved from 2-inch to 6-inch lines. 

“So, if there is a fire and we need big water, all of these larger lines are already in place below the tank with the volume we’d need,” Jenkins explained.

Funding for the new tank received a major boost this year. Mineral County Commissioner Duane Simons presented a $1 million check to the Town of Alberton during a recent council meeting; money that nearly didn’t come through. 

“A person from Congressman Zinke’s office called me in April of 2024 and said, ‘You need to scramble and get some paperwork done in about two days, but we can get the money for you,’” Jenkins said. “We did, but it didn’t happen at that time.” 

The town later resubmitted the same paperwork, and the funding was approved in January. Zinke delivered the check, along with additional funding for the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office, and asked county commissioners to present it locally. 

“Through your hard work, you guys have earned this,” Simons said at the meeting. “For a long time, I’ve complained about how much federal land we have in Mineral County, but one of the benefits is that leaders in Washington listen to us. We don’t have a large tax base for infrastructure projects like this, and we deserve the support.”

The master plan also calls for the development of another well. Currently, the town operates one additional well during summer months, while the primary water system is gravity-fed from a spring. Once completed, both tanks will continue to rely on that spring-fed system. The $1 million grant covers the majority of the project’s estimated $1.2 million cost. 

Town officials are pursuing additional grants and financing options to close the gap. Construction on this phase is expected to be completed in spring 2026.