Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Jun 07/00) - The next time you take an afternoon stroll around the city, make sure to keep your eyes on the ground.

Pay particularly close attention to the alley located between the Adam Dental Clinic and NorthwesTel Tower.

About 100 metres down the lane, you'll find a manhole cover which states City of Whitehorse.

Huh? Isn't this the City of Yellowknife?

Local residents will likely find the situation quite humorous, but wouldn't it be a little confusing for visiting tourists?

"We were wondering where that is," Wayne Tuck, Whitehorse's city engineer told Yellowknifer. "We've got an open hole here -- people are falling in!"

Tuck found the situation to be very peculiar, and quite amusing, but he insists the City of Whitehorse had nothing to do with it.

As a possible explanation, Tuck said both Northern cities deal with the same manufacturer -- Norwood Foundry of Edmonton -- so the mix-up was probably an honest mistake on behalf of the company.

"Tell (the City of Yellowknife) they can have it -- no charge," quipped Tuck.

Gary Craig, director of public works for the City of Yellowknife, said he's puzzled by the foreign manhole cover.

Mayor solves mystery

"Well, you've gotta get your manhole covers where you can," said Craig. "I bet someone stole it from Whitehorse, set it right in there and took one from Yellowknife."

But have no fear -- Mayor Dave Lovell has solved the mystery.

"It isn't that we went and stole a bunch of them or anything," said Lovell.

He explained that a few years ago Norwood Foundry sent the wrong shipment of manhole covers to Yellowknife.

City officials then contacted the company to inform them of the error and were then told to keep the manhole covers at no charge. "We just keep them in the (public works) yard and if someone steals a manhole cover or we run short, we use them," said the mayor.

Lovell said the manhole cover will be replaced at some point. In the meantime he thinks the situation is quite comical.

"There's one behind The Gallery too that always used to make me laugh. Someone probably stole that one night on the way home from the bar," laughed Lovell.

At least eight City of Whitehorse manhole covers are kicking around the public works yard in Yellowknife.

"They're always handy to have, we always have a spare grate. If we didn't have them we would have to buy an extra 10," said Lovell.