The Past
Businesses
Churches
Communities
~ Enderby
~ Grindrod
~ Hupel
~ Kingfisher/
Mabel Lake
~ Mara
~ ~ General
History
~ ~ John Andrew
Mara
~ ~ Homesteaders
~ ~ Interview
Gray&Boswell
~ ~ Post Office
~ ~ Mara School
~ ~ Mara Bridge
~ ~ Mara Stores
~ ~ Relief
Camps
~ ~ Sawmills and Logging
~ ~ Churches
~ ~ Community
Hall
~ ~ Provincial
Park
~ Population
Community Services
Entertainment
Ethnic Groups
Geography
Heritage Homes
Industries
Organizations
People
Schools
Transportation
In 1905, logging became
the main industry in Mara, as the Rothesay Lumber Company set up a mill on the east side
of the Shuswap River. This was a very good investment seeing that Mara was so heavily
forested with fir, larch, birch, poplar and cedar; it was also smarter than floating the
logs downriver to other sawmills.
The mill would cut about 20,000 feet of lumber a day, and the logs were sold for $8.00 a thousand. The work in the mill was very poor, as were the wages; the men stayed in camps paying a dollar a day for room and board. Unfortunately in the fire of 1909, the flames overtook the Rothesay Mill.
In 1946 another mill operated by the Zettergreen Bros. was established, also a good investment because it was in the post-war years and the economy was picking up. The roads from the mill to the logging sites were built by Baird Bros. and Bell Pole Co. These roads were used by sturdy work horses as skidders.
There have been many mills since these two. For example, Keith Davy operated one on the Northern end of Mara while Jim MacKay and his brother Alan ran mills in the area. Today there are still mills in the Mara vicinity.
Dawn Gerlib, Niels Konge, Kurt Schubert
ALF School, 1989