Coming up for air

Yikes! It's been awhile since I've posted to this site. It's turned out to be a very busy summer. Ah, the life of being self-employed....

A few weeks ago, I got an assignment that took me north of the Battlefords. I figured the drive would make a good opportunity to grab some snapshots of various sights and attractions along the first three days of the GASP 2009 route, instead of staring blankly at Highway 16 for an hour and a half each way.

Here are some of the highlights of that trip.

A little ways out of Saskatoon, a few kilometres west of the Grandora turnoff, GASPers will come across services at Sandy Ridge. There's a gas station with snacks and plenty of shade. (Sorry, no photos of this one.)

Asquith

A couple of hours into the ride (42 km), Asquith may not look like much from the highway, but take a moment to cruise into town for a snack. There's a nice, historical general store downtown, along with a grocery store and cowboy-themed restaurant. Plus, there's a quiet park where you can enjoy your snack.


Biggar

OK, I can't resist: New York is big, but this is Biggar. The town was really bustling when I got there. The campground is southwest of town. Head south of town on highway 4, across the tracks and past the highway 51 turnoff. It sounds like a long ways, but it's just outside the town. The motels are at the northeast end of town. Restaurants are downtown, plus a big one next to the motel near the entrance to town. The museum, downtown, has much to offer. The railway roundhouse is very close to the campground.


Landis

Landis, a little less than two hours (38 km) from Biggar on day two, makes a nice pit stop. There's a store and a restaurant, plus some shady places to rest.



Wilkie

I stopped for lunch at the Blue Moon Restaurant, but there are a couple of other restaurants in town, too. The campground is in the regional park, just west of downtown, and there's a municipal swimming pool just across the road from there. Let's hope for hot, hot weather that day (although maybe the farmers won't be wishing for the same).

Battleford

I found this wonderful ice cream stand, the Ice Cream Oasis, in Battleford, just down the street from a remarkable restaurant, My Friend's Place, that featured Middle Eastern fare. I have fond memories of Pennydale Junction, too, another restaurant close to the campground. I first stopped at that restaurant on my way to visit friends in Edmonton shortly after moving to Saskatchewan in the early 1980s. I was surprised to hear CiTR playing on the sound system. Having been active in the development and expansion of that radio station, I knew that cable carriers were making it available with their packages, but I had no idea it was making it this far east. The restaurant was a laid back, casual, kind of folksy place in those days. It's very upscale and posh now, a great place for either fine dining or a simple hamburger, but it no longer plays CiTR.

GASPers staying at the motel will find that there's a really scenic route from Battleford to North Battleford, via Finlayson Island. The historic bridges were closed to motorized traffic a few years ago, but remain open for pedestrians and cyclists. Taking those bridges, instead of going way out to the main highway, is a much shorter route to the motels, plus it's more scenic. The Fred Light Museum, near the campground and close to the route over to the motel, is worth a visit. Fort Battleford National Historic Site is right next to the campground. Don't forget that the National Parks people are doing an historical re-enactment of the Siege of Battleford, firing off the cannon for the event. It's something you won't want to miss.

Scenery

The Battle River valley, between Wilkie and Battleford is one of main reasons that we've taken the tour route where we did. There's some spectacular views and much of the trip involves meandering through the rolling valley. It comes at you by surprise, after cycling along flat prairie out of Wilkie. Maybe bring a few carrots or an apple for the very friendly horses.

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.

Going down the right track

I spent the morning today looking into locomotive roundhouses. I'm supposed to be working on a book, but.... well, it's Friday, and this just seemed like a lot more fun. Besides, I had an interview scheduled for early in the afternoon and there's no point breaking my concentration, so I might as well look into locomotive roundhouses, instead. And it's cold out; I really want to be thinking about sunnier weather and springtime. Writers can be just terrible procrastinators at times. For some reason, though, I never seem to procrastinate when it comes to cycling.

This all started because the GASP tour is passing through Biggar. For those who don't already know, there's a last-of-its-kind locomotive roundhouse in Biggar, and there's a tug-of-war happening over what's going to become of it. The circular building, constructed in 1908 for servicing and storing steam locomotives, is the last surviving roundhouse built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. There is not another one like it in the whole world. When it's gone, it will be like the extinction of a species. The CNR wants to tear it down, citing liability concerns. The citizens of Biggar, and railway buffs everywhere, on the other hand, want to save it. Right now, there's a good chance the roundhouse could be torn down in 2009, before we get the chance to see it.

Railway preservationists say that the building is so well preserved that it's like the railroad just pulled out. Never mind that it has found ignominious use for housing turkeys for the past few years. Perhaps that's a back-handed social commentary about those who would tear down such an historic structure (bird-brained turkeys), but how much damage could a bunch of birds do to a place that was built to support a dozen or more gigantic iron horses?

Biggar resident and railroader Tom Cholowski and Mayor Ray Sadler organized a petition to save the roundhouse, collecting more than 2500 signatures so far. That may not sound like much, but it's more than the town's population.

Some of the cyclists intending to take part in this summer's GASP became downright excited when they heard that we'd be passing through Biggar. They knew about the roundhouse and they would love the opportunity to see it. Imagine how they felt when we asked the town if we could arrange for a closer look.

While calling around to the other towns along our route, I happened to mention how pleased we were to be able to include a visit to Biggar's roundhouse on our itinerary.

"We've got one of those," Theresa from Kerrobert said on the phone. "Well, it's just the turntable. The roundhouse is gone. But the turntable's still there. I'll ask if you could get a tour."

And that's how I ended up spending Friday morning looking into locomotive roundhouses.

My curiosity was piqued. I figured, if Biggar and Kerrobert each have one, where else could we find them on our route? I wondered what they might look like after so many years of disuse, where to look for them.

I spent about half an hour on Google Earth, looking all along the railway lines north, south, east and west of Kerrobert, trying to find something, anything, that might look like a locomotive roundhouse. I didn't really have much of a clue about what I was looking for. Finally, I spotted it, northeast of town, a circular mark on the landscape at the centre of a semicircle of concrete foundations. In the aerial view, it reminded me of a gigantic oriental fan, gradually sinking into the prairie soil.

Now, I had a shape to look for. I found similar structures in Wilkie, North Battleford and Outlook, where Google Earth had enough resolution to show the detail. I pinpointed Biggar's from the aerial photos posted on the town's website. Unity and Rosetown? Google Earth lacked the resolution to know for sure, but I'll be calling those town offices to find out.

I managed to find archive references and photos of some of the historic roundhouses. We'll be sure to include whatever we can learn about these places in the route guide for GASP 2009.

It shouldn't be surprising to find these roundhouses or, at least, their remnants. Steam locomotives needed frequent servicing. Most of the towns along our route ought to have had a roundhouse. I wonder if we'll be able to find what became of it in each place we stop.