Peace River Country - History

History

The area was first explored by Sir Alexander MacKenzie in 1789, when he travelled along the Peace River, eventually reaching the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Ocean. In 1793 he used the same route to reach the Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, the region saw a surge in fur trade, with forts built along the river from Fort Vermilion to Hudson's Hope.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the farming potential of the area was advertised by the federal government, but settlement was scarce because of difficult travel conditions through the muskeg. With the arrival of the railway in 1916, and following the opening of land for homesteaders in 1910, farming and ranching took off in the fertile Peace Country. The settlement of the British Columbia portion of the agricultural area, known as the Peace River Block, originated as a railway grant which wound up for a time under Dominion jurisdiction and managed by offices in Alberta until returned to British Columbia following ongoing jurisdictional conflicts.

Forestry plays a large role in the Peace Country, and as a result, pulp mills have been built in Chetwynd, Peace River and Grande Prairie since the 1970s.

Economy registered a new boost with the discovery of oil and gas in the region. In 1952, gas was struck in the Fort St. John No. 1 well, and the first refinery was built in 1957 at Taylor. In the mid-1970s, the massive Elmworth natural gas field in northwest Alberta was discovered, as well as other major gas fields in British Columbia and Alberta and both Fort St. John and Grande Prairie have experienced rapid economic and population growth as a result.