[4] His son, Thomas William Cassidy,[5] sold 211 hectares (522 acres) to the Department of National Defence in 1942 for a Royal Canadian Air Force glider pilot training facility.

[6] In 1918, Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company began working the Douglas coal seam.

The model town included 19 houses of various sizes connected to power, water, and sewer, with a provision for a further 50 residences.

[7] A single men's concrete dormitory, accommodating workers in 76 rooms, had light, hot and cold water and steam heat.

[10] The town, which covered 40 hectares (100 acres), had paved streets, a department store and a theatre.

[12][13] A decade later at Cassidy, a 4.8 km (3 mi) spur line connected to the E&N Railway, from where coal travelled by rail to Ladysmith.

In 1919, the Cassidy train station opened,[10] and was a flag stop when Via Rail on Vancouver Island ceased in 2011.

[14] Immediately south of Vowels Rd,[15] not even a signpost marked the flag stop location in its final years.

There is a camping, RV park, and golf course to the west to on Haslam Creek called Rondalyn Resort.