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Pilot Guide
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Prince George: Gateway to Northern
Adventures
 Prince
George is one of those gateways you first visit on
business , then yearn to return to for pure
pleasure in the great outdoors. Wilderness
adventurers consider Prince George their gateway to
paradise, and a glance at the map will tell you
why. This former fur trading fort is the key city
in BC's North by Northwest tourism zone- a vast
area stretching from the Alberta border to the
Pacific and northward to the Yukon. Located
at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers,
Prince George is an excellent base for canoeists,
hikers and anglers.
 There
are a total of 117 parks in the area for visitors
and residents to
enjoy. Hikers
and anglers head to Raven Lake and to the
alpine meadows and other fishing lakes of the
Grizzly Den Recreation Area, which has a superb
trail system. When Alexander Mackenzie passed
through the area in 1793 and noted that it had
potential for European settlement, he wasn't far
wrong. In 1807 the Hudson Bay Company fur traders
established Fort George and this evolved into the
City of Prince George in 1915.
Prince
George Airport
Canada's
two largest carriers serve Prince George and our
region with direct service to Vancouver 11 times
daily. Central Mountain Air and Northern
Thunderbird Air connect the north and BC's interior
through scheduled and charters services.
•
Convenient downtown transportation
• Fully serviced airport terminal
Classified by
Transport Canada as a Class "A" airport, in 1994
Prince George Airport received the region's
Excellence Award for Environmental Management.
There is a steady increase in the number of
passengers using the airport, aided by the
increasing number of flights in and out of Prince
George.
You
can get here from anywhere. Check the airport's
website: www.pgairport.ca
More
about Prince
George:
BC's Northern Capital, Prince George (population
75,000) is located at the junction of the Fraser
and Nechako Rivers and is 300 air miles north of
Vancouver. While tourism is booming and
manufacturing on the rise, Prince George's economy
is still forest industry-based, with 15 sawmills
and 3 pulp mills. Prince George is an important
highway junction- the Yellowhead 16 (East/ West)
and Highway 97 (North/ South)- and railway
crossroads for BC Rail's Cariboo Line and Via's
Skeena Run.
The area has a
perfect blend of natural landscape and city
amenities. The city has four golf courses, five
indoor ice rinks, over 60 ball diamonds and over 50
tennis courts. There are 124 parks set aside within
city boundaries, the largest being Fort George Park
, home of the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum on
the Heritage River Trail. Popular attractions
include the Prince George Railway and Forest
Industry Museum.
The
Fraser Fort George Regional
Museum is
located on the banks of the Fraser River, at a spot
where Simon Fraser established the fort in 1807. It
chronicles the development of the area from the
arrival of Alexander Mackenzie and the fur
trade.
Major
projects,
such as a Provincial Courthouse, Civic Center and
Plaza reveal what a modern metropolis this city has
become. The University of Northern British Columbia
is Canada's newest, serving 5000 full time
students. It's quite fitting for Canada's tourism
industry that subjects taught include Parks
Planning, Commercial and Wildland Recreation,
Ecotourism and Visitor management. Pacific Rim ties
are strengthened by faculty and student exchanges
with universities in Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
Adjacent to the university is Forests for the
World, a 106 hectare f
The Prince
George Air Show in July , is an annual event
featuring military jets, warbird aircraft,
aerobatics and a static ground display. The Salmon
Valley Country Music Festival is also in
July.
From Prince
George, a pleasant side trip to Fort St
James takes you along the Yellowhead Highway
through ranch country, by rivers lined with
cottonwoods and sparkling lakes. On the way, you
pass through Vanderhoof, a town which marks the
geographical center of British Columbia. It was
named for Herbert Vanderhoof, a Chicago publicity
agent hired by the Canadian government in 1908 to
launch a campaign to attract settlers to western
Canada.
Fort
St. James was
founded by Simon Fraser, the explorer, in 1806. At
Fort St. James National Historic Site, BC's oldest
continuously inhabited community salutes its fur
trading past. History lives on at this authentic
Hudson's Bay Trading Post, with furs, trade goods,
and staff in 1890s attire. One of the west's oldest
fur warehouses, a clerk's residence and a fish
cache remain.
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