Govan sits on Highway 20, about 111 kilometres north of Regina. The first settlers in the area made their homes along the shores of Long Lake, now known as Last Mountain Lake, at places close to McKillop's Landing, Arlington Beach and Taylorboro. Some came north from Craven, through the Bulyea and Strasbourg districts, while others came up the waters of Long Lake itself.
In those early years the lake, which stretches 93 kilometres, served as the settlers' highway. Supplies for the farmers were brought north up the water, and grain was taken down the lake by boat and stored in elevators at the east end. That system was given up when the Canadian Pacific Railway's Kirkella branch was extended from Bulyea to Lanigan and on to Saskatoon, opening up more of the country to settlement.
Govan also has a place in local hockey history. A men's senior team from the town was one of the five founding teams of the Highway Hockey League in central Saskatchewan in 1965.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Govan, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.
