Druid's connection to cycling (and a darker past)

Druid, a railroad town on the GASP 2009 tour route between Kerrobert and Herschel, has a round about connection with Saskatoon's cycling community. Back in November, I was speaking with friend and fellow BikeE rider Cas Wolan (not the famous medical pioneer, Dr. Cas Wolan, the younger Cas Wolan) about our proposed tour route.

"My aunt's from Druid," Cas reminded me.

Cas' grandfather, Stephen Rogal, emmigrated from Poland, taking work with the CPR in 1911. It wasn't long before he became station agent and section foreman, responsible for a stretch of rail line around Druid, on the Moose Jaw to Macklin branch line.

Cas' aunt, Frances Weber, Rogal's daughter, lived in Druid. She owned the general store there from 1947 to 1963. Even at its peak, in 1911, Druid's population never exceeded 50 people. Nonetheless, the town supported the general store, a three storey hotel, a boarding house and a livery stable.

But Dodsland expanded to town status, while Druid faded away. The town's earliest land holder decided to develop Dodsland. Druid's fate was pretty much sealed when the courthouse, originally planned for Druid, went to Plenty, instead.

There's not much left of Druid these days. Cas' grandmother's house is still there. It's pretty much the only original building left in the town.

Frances Weber, who is in her 90s and now lives in Saskatoon, recalls the Orange Order parades that used to take place. The area has a darker past. In 1926, the Ku Klux Klan, centred in Moose Jaw, drew much support from throughout the region. Aunt Fran still remembers the KKK activity and vandalism perpetrated against local Catholics.

Update (3:47 p.m.): The Biggar Museum & Gallery contains a controversial exhibit depicting the history of the Ku Klux Klan in that town. The exhibit tells the story of a community affected by the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1920s. Remember, folks: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana , U.S. philosopher and poet, 1863-1952, from Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284.)

Update (4:51 p.m.): Although the senior Cas Wolan became known for his work in kidney transplants and urology ("If you can't pee, call T [Manuel Ty, Dr. Wolan's partner]. If your kidney's swollen, call Wolan," he used to say), he was also an early pioneer of Canada's public health care system. While working as a young medical practitioner in Swift Current, Dr. Wolan was a member of the committee that set up Canada's first regional public health demonstration area. Perhaps on a future GASP tour we can visit the birthplace of public medicine.