The history of the Village of Tugaske goes hand in hand with the history of the Rural Municipality of Huron. According to the book Tugaske: Good Land - Good Water - Good People [1], there has been some ranching along the Qu'Appelle Valley since as early as 1890, but it was by 1904 that eighty settlers moved into the district, coming from Craik on the north, and Caron and Mortlach on the south. In the following two years another 150 settlers arrived, "and by the time the train puffed its way through, much of the country was taken up."

In 1908 territorial units of nine townships, on the average, were established and these units are the basis of our municipalities today. It was at a meeting on August 01, 1910, that a resolution was proposed to hold an election to vote for or against the forming of a municipality. There is no record of the election , but the first meeting as a Rural Municipality was held in the Tugaske Town Hall, January 16, 1911.

Meanwhile, when the Moose Jaw to Outlook (Macklin) railroad grade went through in 1908 and the tracks were laid, the north-east quarter of section 13, range 3, township 22, west of the third meridian, was set apart by the Canadian Pacific Railway as a townsite, and the CPR assigned the name "Tugaske" to this location. There were already businesses in operation here in anticipation of the coming of the railroad. Indignant citizens met to protest the name, which had a Russian sound, but the CPR pointed out that they had already printed maps, timetables and tickets using the name "Tugaske", and it would be very inconvenient to change it. It was explained that the word "Tugaske" was a Cree Indian name meaning flat land. (Some claimed it meant good land or good water). The Tugaske Board of Trade immediately seized on this explanation and posted a sign near the railroad, just outside the town, where it could be read by passengers on the train as it went by, reading - "Tugaske means good land, good water and good people."

In the next year, a letter from the Municipal Commissioner under the date of May 7, 1909 wrote: "that on the N.E.quarter of section 13-22-2W3rd there be erected a village under the village act and do assign the name of the Village of Tugaske. First nominations for council members to be held May 19, 1909. J.D. Munroe to be returning officer. The first council meeting to be held on June 2, 1909 at 6 p.m. at Turners Hall". Signed by G.P.McNabb.

The history goes on until today. As many other towns and villages in the prairies, we had our boom time, as well as a more recent decline in population numbers. In the 1970's the village was flooded by the spring snow melt, swept by a cyclone, and suffered a five-day blizzard. But it survived, and continues to do so... with its good land, good water and good people!