Trucking North on Canada's Mackenzie Highway

Gordon C. Shaw is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Administrative
Studies at York University.

This useful book describes the development of the trucking industry on
the Mackenzie Highway, which stretches north through the Peace River
country from Grimshaw, Alberta to Hay River, Fort Simpson, and Wrigley
in the Northwest Territories. While the book concentrates on trucking,
it also describes the development and decline of the area’s other
transport modes: the Northern Alberta Railway and the river steamboats.

The author starts by describing the pioneer truckers who used an early
version of the Mackenzie Highway (i.e., before its completion in 1948).
These include the Cat Trains that operated over the snow and ice, and
that helped build the CANOL project during World War II. She goes on to
discuss the principal operators of that time, the various stopping
places in the area, life on the road, various trucking companies after
1948, and the passenger services operated by Canadian Coachways Ltd. She
concludes the book with a description of the “Mac 50 Cavalcade,”
which was held in August 1998 on the Alberta–N.W.T border to provide
an official, and long-overdue, opening of the road.

More a reference book than a general-interest title, Trucking North on
Canada’s Mackenzie Highway is well-documented, with references at the
end of each chapter, a full index, and a helpful glossary of terms.
Recommended for readers who are interested in trucking or in the history
and geography of the Peace River territory.