Mackenzie

In 1964 the prospect of abundant forest resources and available power led B.C. Forest Products to announce it would spend $60 million building a “forestry complex” in the region, employing thousands of people in local pulp mills, sawmills, and other logging operations.

As part of the development, the town of Mackenzie was established by Alexandra Forest  Holdings ltd. (acquired by BC Forest Products in 1967) and Cattermole Timber (later partnered with Jujo Paper in 1970 to create Finlay Forest Industries), to house a workforce for the forest industry.

The BC Forest Service built a road from “the Junction” (where Hwy 39 and Hwy 97 currently meet 28 kms south of Mackenzie) to Finlay Forks in the early 1960s.  In 1965 the clearing of the land began for the town site of Mackenzie.  Portable saw mills were kept busy milling the wood being cut in the reservoir flood zone.  The first houses were constructed on Crysdale Drive and Heather Crescent.

Mackenzie was incorporated under the “Instant Town” Act, on 19 May 1966.  The first families moved to town in June of that year.  In September, the School District moved two portable classrooms into Mackenzie.  The buildings had electricity but no running water and the toilets were outside privies, and the heat in the rooms came from potbellied stoves.  The classrooms accommodated grades one through eight, and all classes went in shifts.  Staffing consisted of three teachers and a principal.  Mackenzie’s first high school graduation class (11 students) was in 1972.

By the early 70’s Mackenzie could boast a population of just over 7,000 residents.  By the 1980’s there was an airport, four schools, shopping centres, banks, a hospital, fire hall, recreation centre, and many other facilities in town.