Forestry
For the early settlers, the forests were one of the most reliable resources they had. The forests were used to build log homes and for firewood.
;)
The effort to independently produce what was needed in the Peace River country started early when Henry Lawrence’s sons and his brother, Erastus, brought a large stationary steam engine to the Anglican mission at Fort Vermilion in 1886. The engine was brought through the Long Trail by oxen and then transported up the Peace River by raft. It was used to power a sawmill and a flour mill.
When Anel Maynard Bezanson returned to the Peace River in 1910 to build a community, the availability of lumber was central to his plans. He attained the land he needed for his community at the mouth of the Simonette River on the Smoky River. He was going to build a sawmill at the town site and transport the logs he needed down the Simonette River. The lumber would then be used to build the town.
Most settlers did not have grand plans like Bezanson. The available supplies of lumber provided many with the resources they needed to build the dwelling that were required by the Dominion Lands Act to attain the title for their homesteads.
As the steamships started plying the waters of the Athabasca River, Lesser Slave River, and the Peace River, many earned the extra money or goods they needed by cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood used in the steamers.
;)
When the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway (EDBC) was being constructed, many men found jobs cutting and squaring logs with broad axes for ties.
After steam tractors and engines were available in the Peace country from 1919 on, many sawmill operations were established. In several cases the steam engines were a mix of fortunes as they allowed the sawing of larger quantities of lumber, but the sparks from the fires under the boilers could cause devastating fires.
By 1920, Grande Prairie had three established lumber companies, Frontier Lumber Company, Buffalo Lakes Lumber Company, and the Ford Lumber Company. The city was also host to the H.R. Walker Sash and Door Factory.
As mechanizations and the ability to transport lumber improved forestry grew and became the strong industry it is today.