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
