The Skyline

The Western Plywood Mill was constructed on the east side of the Fraser River, south of Quesnel and began operating in 1951. This mill continues to operate today as the Quesnel Plywood Plant.

The Fraser River Bridge at Quesnel (now the walking bridge) could not support large, heavy logging trucks. Early attempts to use tugs and log rafts on the river were found to be inefficient. Instead a system of Skylines were developed to ferry logs across the rivers of the region.

Skylines were built at the Cottonwood Canyon, Woodpecker and as pictured here over the Fraser River just south of Quesnel.

Logs were lifted from the logging trucks.

and were transported

across the steep river canyons

A suspension bridge ran alongside for pedestrians.

Unauthorized personnel crossed at their own risk!

The Fraser River Skyline was designed and constructed by Al Scheller assisted by Len Taves and was operated for many years by George Oliver and Otto Siewert.

On the other skylines the logs were reloaded onto trucks on the opposite bank to continue their journey. On the Fraser River Skyline they were placed into the mill pond and then moved either into the plywood plant or the sawmill.

• The Skyline remained in operation until the Moffat bridge was built in 1970.
• It was then dismantled and shipped to Alaska where it was used in bridge building.
• Little remains of this engineering feat, except a road on the west side of the Fraser, seemingly leading to nowhere but a spectacular view, called Skyline Road.
• The model of the Skyline was built in the 1950s and donated to the Museum in 1985 by Wildwood of Canada, one of the successor firms of the Western Plywood Mill.