In May of 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, and a party of nine men arrived in present-day Hudson’s Hope seeking the famed northwest passage, a route through the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It was at Hudson’s Hope that Mackenzie and his team of voyageurs encountered the spectacular Peace River Canyon. Mackenzie and his team were forced to pull their canoe from the river and portage around the impassable canyon and nearby mountain that would later be named ‘Portage Mountain’ in honour of this event; Mackenzie arrived safely at the tidewater of the Pacific on July 20, 1793 and became the first European to cross the Rocky Mountains.

Over 150 years later the area would see another arrival of adventurous visitors – this group was focussed on harnessing the immense power of the Peace River canyon, transforming that amazing natural power into electricity, and using that electricity to power the economy of the region and entire province. The construction of a large hydroelectric project commenced in 1961 and was known at the time as the ‘Portage Mountain Project;’ the Portage Mountain Project would later be named the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, GM Shrum Generating Station and Williston Reservoir after BC Premier W.A.C. Bennett, Project Engineer Gordon Merritt Shrum and Minister of Lands, Forests and Natural Resources Ray Williston respectively. The Portage Mountain Project was a massive undertaking and brought thousands of workers from across the country and world to the region during construction. When complete the 183-metre tall earthfill dam and 1,761 km2 reservoir would be among the world’s largest. The completion of the Portage Mountain Project and later the Peace Canyon Dam would provide electrical power to the residents and industries of the local region while supplying over 1/3rd of the province’s electrical needs.

The spirit of Alexander Mackenzie and the men and women who built the dams are representative of the Peace River region and its residents to this day – rugged, bold, hard-working, adventurous, and passionate about exploring and enjoying the outdoors. The name ‘Portage Mountain’ embodies the spirit of those hard-working men and women who came before us –and carries forward to today as residents of the Peace River area continue the hard work of natural resource exploration and spend their free time recreating in and enjoying the great outdoors hiking, boating, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, skiing... The motto and lifestyle of the Peace River residents can definitely be summed up as WORK HARD, PLAY HARD!

We at Portage Mountain Cannabis are passionate about enjoying the great outdoors and appreciate the opportunity to provide you with high quality, safe cannabis products whether you are out playing in the natural beauty of the region or at home relaxing after a hard days’ work or play.