With the Klondike Gold Rush, the Canadian government sought to identify safe overland routes for prospectors to reach the Yukon from Edmonton.

On drilling down 400 feet in the middle of the Peace River, the failure to reach solid rock identified an unbridgeable crevice.

[22] By 1935, the leaning was for a Prince George-Finlay Forks road via Summit Lake rather than Manson Creek,[23] however this choice was not universal,[24] and further surveys ensued.

The project required a further 40 miles of heavy construction if extended to Finlay Forks,[26] and progress was long delayed.

[34] That year, the residents formed a community association and petitioned the postal authorities to rename the location as 'Finparpea', compiled from the first three letters of the three rivers.

William Fox, the Hudson's Bay factor (mercantile agent),[35] was the inaugural postmaster 1916–18, with mail deliveries 6–8 times each year.

[39] The nucleus of a potential town comprised a few scattered cabins,[40] with Ole Johnson offering visitor accommodation.

[43] The remaining storekeeper,[44] Alan (alternatively Alex) McKinnon, was also a fur trader,[45] postmaster 1920–25 and 1930–43,[37] and a mine owner.

[46] Replenishing his supplies in the summer of 1940, he trucked the 50-ton load from Prince George to Summit Lake, from where it was boated to the Forks.

[47] The annual fur auction held at Finlay Forks, comprised many trappers and drew in commercial buyers.

[48] By the 1950s, the Caucasian population numbered four, two of whom were Roy (1889–1984)[49][50] & Marge (1900–80)[51] McDougall, who ran the trading post and provided visitor accommodation.

[56] Catering to logging crews and Sekani, the two classrooms comprised an Atco-style singlewide structure for the primary grades, and a doublewide for the intermediate ones.

[59] During the 1968 summer, Bud Stuart operated a coffee shop and general store from a tent[60] that evolved into permanent premises.

Airways carried the nine mail deliveries for the year, the radiotelephone station had become redundant and closed, and the community's two-way radio was dependent upon weather conditions.

[77] The Pacific Western Airlines Prince George-Fort St. John run, which commenced in 1957, provided the irregular passenger, freight and mail service to the Forks.

In 1940, Sidney apprehended Edward Bird (alias Byrde) at Deserter's Canyon on a charge of bigamy and surrendered him to a police constable for escorting to Prince George.

[91] In 1944, after a social confrontation, Alex Prince (1921–45)[92] murdered trappers Eugene Messmer, 33, and then Hans Pfeuffer, 43, at their cabin in the vicinity.

[93] Alex Prince, Sekani First Nations, stood trial,[94] but damaging inadmissible statements made by a witness prompted a mistrial.

While Joe Egnell, husband of the deceased was in a physical altercation with Murphy Porter, their wives May and Mary, and Bessie Tomah, were fighting.

[108] The 1957 site selection for the W. A. C. Bennett Dam confirmed the flooding would submerge many mining and industrial development properties.

[109] By the mid-1910s, the BC forestry department maintained a headquarters at Finlay Forks,[110] which in due course served a fire ranger role.

[113] Donald Adems (Adams alternate spelling), a forestry service engineer on the project, had been the first Caucasian child to live at Finlay Forks.

[117] Fires completely gutted its 50,000-foot capacity McLean Lake Mill,[118] and the Courhon Sawmill on Scott Creek at mile 56 of the access road.

[60] In this environment, two tugboat companies and about 25 private logging contractors conducted one of the largest timber salvage operations in North America.

[15] Sheriffs' sales of assets occurred to settle unpaid wages of Yarkon Industries and workers compensation liabilities of Ashlea Timber at Mile 74½.

[121] In 1969, the bush mills disappeared from the pondage area and the first log boom reached Mackenzie from the Finlay drainage.