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Fort St. John boasts a great deal of history. The earliest begins with the Paleo-indians who crossed from Asia to North America by way of the Bering Strait when the two continents were joined by a land bridge. Archaeological finds at Old Crow, Mile 157 and Charlie Lake lend support to the theory that this area was in the ice-free corridor, the pathway taken to reach North America. Artifacts from these digs are some of the oldest man-made specimens thus far. In Charlie Lake Cave, just a few miles outside Fort St. John, artifacts were found dating back 10,500 years Before Present. Among them were stone tools, bones and a bead. The stone bead is significant in that it is the earliest evidence of human adornment in North America.
While these finds give evidence about what happened in the area thousands of years ago, more is known about Fort St. John's later history. The first exploration of this area by the European Community was in 1793 when Alexander Mackenzie, traveling by canoe, passed through the area. Fort St. John has the distinction of being the oldest European settlement on mainland British Columbia due to the fact that a post was established one year after Mackenzie's trip. Originally established in 1794 as Rocky Mountain Fort, it was used as a trading post for the Beaver and Sikanni Nations and as a supply depot for further expeditions into BC. Since then, Fort St. John has undergone five location changes to adapt to the changing needs of the growing community.
Although our heritage begins with the Paleo-indians coming through the ice-free corridor and continues through the era of the large trading companies, Fort St. John's development has largely been within the last one hundred years. It was in 1928 that C.M. Finch built his store which became the centre of town in the years to follow. It was located at the corner of 100th Street and 100th Avenue, city centre to this day. A large influx of people came in the 1930's, primarily from the prairies, when the Peace River Area was opened up for homesteading. Farming replaced trapping as the dominant industry. Farm land in the area is of very high quality. Today, the Canada Land Inventory, for the most part, gives the area a Class 2 agricultural climate capability. In some areas of the Peace River Valley, a Class 1 rating has been given. Although the Peace-Liard Region has only 15% of the total farming units in BC, the region contains nearly all (90%) of BC's cereal grain and seed crops, 100% of canola crops, and 28% of all forage crops.
Although farming is still a driving force in the area, Fort St. John has the distinction of being the energy capital of BC. The Department of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources office in Charlie Lake is the only one of its kind in BC. Maps, core samples and other data from drill sites all over BC are kept here. Although there was much exploration beginning in the 1920's, the first oilwell in BC was brought in near Fort St. John in November 1951 and the area continues to be the centre of BC's oil industry. Today, the northeastern corner of BC, especially the area surrounding Fort St. John, has the only producing oil and gas wells in the province.
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