McGregor existed on the northeast side of the Fraser River north-northwest of the Bowron River confluence. Positioned between Sinclair Mills and Upper Fraser, in central British Columbia, the previous community has since dispersed. McGregor, as well as the McGregor River, McGregor Range, Herrick River, Captain Creek and James Creek were named after Captain James Herrick McGregor (1869–1915), a Canadian soldier killed in action during World War I. As a partner in surveyors Gore and McGregor, he had undertaken extensive exploration and survey work in the area.Prince George Citizen, 27 Jan 1984
Transportation A trackside signpost marks McGregor station, a flag stop for Via Rail's Jasper – Prince Rupert train.
History Railway and Hansard Bridge The Lund-Rogers Construction Company ran camps at the previously designated Miles 186 and 187,Fort George Herald: 8 Jun 1912 & 17 May 1913 with the former as headquarters.Fort George Herald: 28 Sep 1912 The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (later the CNR) Hansard Bridge spans at Mile 99.1, Fraser Subdivision (formerly about Mile 188.5, though a contemporary article inadvertently quoted the camp location).Fort George Tribune, 9 Aug 1913 The low-level railway bridges at Dome Creek and this crossing curtailed the previous steamboat navigation, which triggered a response from the Barnard steamboat management.
Foley, Welch and Stewart, the prime contractor, operated on a cost plus basis. Russell R. Walker (1888–1973),Prince George Citizen: 6 Oct 1978 & 23 Feb 2002 a photographer of the era, observed tunnel work opposite Hansard on the north bank of the Fraser just west of the railway bridge. He suspected graft and corruption because it was nowhere near where the mainline would run.Prince George Citizen, 14 Nov 1966 In a similar vein, William (Bill) Bellos (c.1887–1989),Prince George Citizen, 26 Jul 1989 a construction worker at the time, mentions a tunnel cave-in at the faraway McGregor River, which is west beyond McGregor on the north bank.
The enforced liquor ban ensured sedate and sober camp conditions.Fort George Herald, 20 Sep 1913 In June 1913, flooding from the river forced the temporary evacuation of buildings at Camp 186.Fort George Herald, 21 Jun 1913 The Bates & Rogers Construction Company was contractor for the bridge substructure (piers and abutments) and the Canadian Bridge Co. for the superstructure (steelwork). By August, pile driving for the piers was in full swing and two steam shovels were excavating the bridge approach on the northeast bank. A temporary wooden trestle would carry the track until the steel bridge's completion. With track laying at a day, a completed trestle and the arrival of the railhead were optimistically predicted by October 1.Fort George Tribune, 13 Sep 1913 Slicing through the piles, floating ice destroyed 12 lengths of the temporary trestle. With the railhead almost at this point in early December, this destruction delayed progress until the river froze over.Fort George Herald: 26 Nov 1913 & 3 Dec 1913 While on leave with fellow workers from the Bates & Rogers camp at Christmastime, Harry Porter (c.1873–1913) met George Onooki (c.1890–1914), a former co-worker from Mile 160. The ensuing brutal assault of Porter was South Fort George's first murder. The motive robbery, Onooki was sentenced to hang.Fort George Herald: 31 Dec 1913, 14 Jan 1914 & 23 May 1914
Plans for a separate vehicle deck on the bridge never proceeded and the Eaglet Lake Lumber Co. purchased the surplus steel girders in 1916. High water levels during the 1936 spring floods left very little clearance for driftwood to pass beneath the bridge deck.Prince George Citizen, 4 Jun 1936 A guard, who was presumably armed, defended the crossing during World War II.Prince George Citizen: 8 & 22 Oct 1942; & 8 Apr 1943 When the sun buckled rail lines to the east during 1944, six gravel cars derailed.Prince George Citizen, 15 Jun 1944
McGregor flag stop lies at the eastern end of the Hansard Bridge. The former community was just east at Mile 98.5.
Service c.1959–1965 1965–1977 1977–c.1981 c.1982–c.1989 c.1990–c.1993 c.1994–present Mile No. 98.3 1960 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1964 Timetable. Northern BC Archives 98.4 1965 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1967 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1968 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1972 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1973 Timetable. Northern BC Archives 98.9 98.5 1990 Timetable. Northern BC Archives1992 Timetable. Northern BC Archives Recent timetables Passenger Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Flag stop Way freight Flag stop Flag stop
Whether the flag stop was not clearly defined, or actually moved, is unclear. Initially called Church Sawmills from the late 1950s, it became Sinclair Spruce Mills from 1965, then Northwood Timber Ltd. 2 from 1973, and then McGregor by 1976.
Forestry The narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched some east of Prince George was known as the East Line. Logging camps existed in the vicinity by the early 1950s.Prince George Citizen: 9 & 23 Aug 1951; & 9 Sep 1954 Percy Church of Willow River logged north of this locality.Prince George Citizen: 8 to 29 Apr 1954; & 7 Jun 1956 When the government introduced forest management licences in 1954, Church Sawmills was among the first five approved in principle within the Prince George district.Prince George Citizen, 9 Aug 1954 In 1956, two employees, who were engaged in building an access road, experienced a fatal boating mishap when travelling to site.Prince George Citizen: 18 & 21 Jun 1956 In 1958, the company dismantled and relocated their Willow River mill. The rebuilt and upgraded facility, about north of Hansard Bridge on the McGregor River,Prince George Citizen: 28 & 29 Jul 1958 processed logs from the surrounding area.Prince George Citizen: 17 Jul 1959 to 7 Aug 1959; & 19 Feb 1960 to 11 Mar 1960 In 1960, the company received one of the nine tree farm licences that followed from the 1956 Royal Commission Report.Prince George Citizen, 3 Mar 1960 The previous year, Eagle Lake Sawmills Ltd. and Sinclair Spruce Lumber Co. Ltd. began trial plantings of a few thousand seedlings on their small tree farm situated mere miles north of the Pass Lake road intersection.Prince George Citizen: 28 Jun 1967 & 19 Sep 1967
The Church planing mill, which operated at Cornel MillsPrince George Citizen: 11 Dec 1959, 10 Mar 1960, 31 May 1961 & 3 Jul 1963 near Dewey,Prince George Citizen, 17 Aug 1960 may have relocated to Mile 98Prince George Citizen, 29 Apr 1963 and the Hansard area.Prince George Citizen, 30 Oct 1964 Percy (1903–74)Prince George Citizen, 20 Aug 1974 & Dorothy (1909–80)Prince George Citizen, 1 Apr 1980 Church resided at Mile 98Prince George Citizen, 23 Oct 1959 or Cornel.Prince George Citizen: 2 May 1960, 8 Dec 1961 & 24 Mar 1964 In 1964, Percy was convicted of a hit-and-run incident near Willow River.Prince George Citizen, 24 Mar 1964 Northwood purchased the mill in January 1965, but production had ceased months earlier.Prince George Citizen, 26 Jan 1965 During 1965–1970, Percy and Dorothy Church developed the Edgewood Terrace subdivision along the north Nechako.Prince George Citizen: 18 Nov 1965, 27 Sep 1986 & 1 May 1993
By 1966, an aerial photo placed the McGregor Logging Division base immediately west of the Hansard Bridge and east of Hansard station. This appears to be the location of the original five staff houses, three trailer units joined to form 20-person bunkhouses, up to 25 trailers for families, log loading infrastructure (for rail transportation to Prince George), and possibly the equipment maintenance facility and parts inventory.Prince George Citizen: 15 Sep 1966; 19 Sep 1967; & 19 to 24 May 1978 During the late 1960s, the company built an office/bunkhouse/community club complex (called the McGregor Camp) on the east corner of the Pass Lake road intersection at Mile 98.5.Prince George Citizen: 2 Jan 1969, 9 May 1969, 27 Jun 1998 & 30 Dec 1994 Weakened lumber markets curtailed logging from the mid-1970s onward. Subsequently, harvesting insect-damaged timber was the priority.Prince George Citizen: 29 Aug 1974 & 26 Mar 1982
A sewage lagoon for the camp treated effluent prior to release into the nearby Fraser.Prince George Citizen, 6 May 1981 However, the majority of these lagoons on rural-residential lots in the Prince George region malfunctioned, because precipitation exceeded the rate of evaporation.Prince George Citizen, 31 Mar 1982 To prevent sewage from surfacing in swampy areas, the company adopted exfiltration, with effluent sprayed from a stabilization lagoon into a sand basin.Prince George Citizen: 8 Nov 1982 & 12 Jan 1983 A further upgrade came in 1991.Prince George Citizen, 9 Oct 1991
By the mid-1980s, Northwood dispensed with their remaining company logging crews, because contractors were performing 90 percent of this function.Prince George Citizen: 17 & 30 Sep 1985 After Northwood removed fuel storage tanks from Upper Fraser and McGregor, the contaminated soil was excavated and treated on the western section of the camp.Prince George Citizen: 30 Dec1994 & 17 Oct 1996 The mechanics shop comprised about 25 employees, many of whom travelled to the logging sites to service equipment overnight. The logging division may have maintained some facilities immediately west of the railway bridge as late as the mid-1990s.Prince George Citizen, 23 May1995
In 1998, while heavy-duty mechanic Jeffrey Taylor was pounding a steel pin with a sledgehammer, a metal fragment projectile lacerated two main arteries in his neck. Rushed from McGregor to Prince George for treatment, he survived, but brain damage severely affected speech and leg movement.Prince George Citizen: 15 Jan 1999 & 23 Feb 1999
Community Isolated dwellings previously existed,Prince George Citizen, 18 Aug 1955 but after the Church mill opened, many families resided at Mile 98 from the late 1950s.Prince George Citizen: 7 Jul 1959; 20 & 31 Aug 1959; 8 & 14 Sep 1959; & 30 Mar 1960 In the mid-1960s, the community numbered 150 and the company successfully petitioned for a name change to McGregor and a transfer of the post office from Cornel Mills. Reopened at or near McGregor, it operated from April 1966 to October 1970.
Dewey post office, opened in 1915 at what became Cornel, was some distance from Dewey station. Confusion between "Dewey" and "Dewdney", that caused misdirected mail, prompted a postal name change to "Cornel Mills" in 1956. Dorothy Church was postmaster 1962–64. Cornel station (Mile 93.8) closed in 1965, and Dewey station (Mile 92.2) followed in the early 1970s.
In fall 1966, when School District 57 refused to bus the 25 schoolchildren the to Sinclair Mills, parents boycotted the school. Resolved within weeks, Northwood provided a driver and maintenance services, while the district supplied a bus.Prince George Citizen: 1, 7, 13 & 15 Sep 1966 The community comprised 13 families around this time. The two Girl Guides would have been members of another company.Prince George Citizen: 9 Mar 1967 & 4 Aug 1967
While Sinclair Mills elementary temporarily closed for a few years during the 1970s, and after the final closure before the 1983/84 school year, McGregor students attended Upper Fraser elementary.Prince George Citizen: 30 Aug 1972, 19 Sep 1973, 3 Sep 1976 & 19 Apr 1983 The school district cancelled the school bus from the 1986/87 year,Prince George Citizen, 18 Jun 1986 but temporarily reinstated the service during the 1989/90 winter.Prince George Citizen, 6 Dec 1989