A place for wildlife adventure, a haunted lake and the world’s largest tree crusher
From First Nations' settlements, fur trading outposts and gold rush settlers to pristine wilderness and the world's largest tree crusher, adventurers will not have enough time to take in all the sights and activities in Mackenzie, B.C. It's located a short two-hour (183-kilometre) drive north of Prince George, near Morfee Lake and the Williston Lake Reservoir, which is the seventh largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Some very large trout have been caught there.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the surveyor of Canada west of the Rocky Mountains, first explored the area in 1793. In the 1870s, gold rush enthusiasts arrived, staking claims and dreaming of riches. With the building of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in the early 1960s and the flooding of the Finlay and Parsnip rivers, all of the old settlements needed to be relocated to a new town that became Mackenzie. The first families arrived in June 1966.
This north-central area of B.C. reflects big history, big water and big fish.
Mackenzie and District Museum
One of the first stops to make in Mackenzie is the Museum. Curator Jim Wiens will lead you on a tour of the facility and regale you with stories from the past. The museum houses a wide range of photographs, artifacts, memorabilia and survey maps from the 1800s to the present. You can even see and touch a replica trapper's cabin.
Wiens is extremely proud of the museum's 35 original acrylic portraits of Sekani First Nations people painted by Marge McDougall. As well, on display are the robes of the Honourable Madam Justice Rose Toodick Boyko, Canada's first aboriginal woman Superior Court judge. In 2009, Boyko was appointed to the UN Tribunal Appeals Board. Byko was born in a trapper's cabin just north of Mackenzie.
For those seeking something a bit different, Wiens suggests checking out Morfee Lake. Local legend has it that when the mist travels across the lake at sunset and just after dark, a young girl can be seen walking across the water. A haunted lake—it doesn't get much better.
If natural history is more to your liking, then check out the museum's ichthyosaurus fossil from a sea reptile that lived 100 million years old; the fossil was found along the shore of Williston Lake.
Wiens also suggests traveling a short distance south of town to the Macleod Lake Post Historic site. Founded in 1805 by Simon Fraser, it's the oldest continuous white settlement west of the Rockies.
World's largest tree crusher
Located at the entrance to Mackenzie, the LeTourneau G175 tree crusher is very big. It was moved to Mackenzie in late 1964 on six flat-bed rail cars. It took four days to unload and re-assemble.
Made of steel, the electrical self-powered crusher weighs 175 tons and is 56 feet long, 35 feet wide and 21 feet high. It was used for clearing land along the Finlay and Parsnip rivers prior to flooding the Williston Lake Reservoir.
During Hockeyville (2011), the crusher was turned into the world's largest zamboni.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie Monument
A baby-faced Sir Alexander Mackenzie made his first landing eight kilometres north of the town that bares his name. The landing site is located on the Parsnip West forest service road. You can get directions to the site from the visitor centre at the Chamber of Commerce building located on Centennial Drive.
Mugaha Marsh–Birder's Paradise
To make use of your high-powered binoculars, check out the Mugaha Marsh. Take this short 15-minute drive north of Mackenzie to view a wide variety of bird and wildlife species. The Mackenzie Nature Observatory operates a bird migration monitoring program at the banding station from late July to late September, said Janey Morgan, office manager for the Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce and Vistor Centre.
