Bagpiper blends Scottish pride with mountain-man ideals

Kalispell resident Rod Douglas believes people can probably discover their heritage through the music for which they have an affinity. Douglas' passion is the Great Highland bagpipe, a tangible icon of his Scottish pride. 

"The pipes are an extension of my soul, that's all I can say," Douglas said.

Raised in Iowa, he wanted to learn the bagpipe from an early age, but the piano became a more practical choice, then the fiddle and violin. There were not many bagpipe instructors in Iowa and his parents had a piano. When he found an instructor after moving to Montana in the 1980s, he also found that the bagpipe was the hardest instrument he had ever learned to play.

"It's a very physically involved instrument," he explained.

Douglas has played the bagpipe for 11 years and currently serves as pipe major with the Montana Highlanders Association pipe and drum band. The association plays at parades, weddings, funerals and other special occasions. Douglas also competes individually.

The bagpipe people see most often he refers to as "war pipes." The instrument has three "drones" attached to a bag and rests against the player's shoulder when played. The drones produce the powerful sound that penetrates the din of any battle or parade.

"The drones give it the real haunting sound we think of when we hear bagpipes," Douglas said.

Some of his bagpipes are on display at his home in what he nicknames the "war room." The room features a variety of Scottish antiques and historical replicas of weaponry and ceremonial regalia.

He hunts with an 18th-century Spanish musket replica that hangs on one of the walls below replicas of a Scottish "targ" shield and basket hilted sword. The musket provides a challenge compared to modern guns, Douglas said. And challenges are something he thrives on.

Hanging off the musket is a third-place medal he won recently in a bagpipe contest and a first-place medal his son Matthew, 20, won when he played the bagpipe as an 8-year-old boy.

The bagpipe actually led to Douglas' interest in learning about his lineage - the "Clan Douglas" and "Clan Sinclair" of the Scottish Lowlands.

Well-known for exhibiting his Scottish pride, Douglas' quest to relive history began with the American mountain man.

With a desire to incorporate trapping into his hobby he needed authentic equipment and opened a blacksmith shop where he replicated 1820s- and 1830s-style beaver traps - from the chains to the springs - for six years. He dug out a canoe to go on river expeditions to trap beavers.

"It was more for the passion of knowledge (rather than to sell)," Douglas said.

When he's not honing his skills on the bagpipe, Douglas works part time as a butcher at Frey's Meats & Custom Cutting and part time at the Flathead County Landfill. His 1-year-old granddaughter, Jenna, is also a joy in his life.

Although Douglas has since traded in his handmade buckskin clothing for striking Scottish kilts, he still embodies the ideals of the mountain man.

"Everything is an extension of one hobby," he said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.