Town of Mackenzie, British Columbia

Reason for Building:

It was brought to Mackenzie to clear land. It was built to crush trees in the valley that was flooded when the dam was built and to blaze the trail for a power line. As advertised by LeTourneau, the purpose of the machine is to:
(a) Clear large tracts of land in a minimum amount of time and at a minimum cost.
(b) Allow one machine and one operator to do an amount of work equivalent to that of several machines and operators required by conventional clearing methods.
(c) Compress all wood materials into a compact splintered mat, which when allowed to air dry will become highly combustible and allow in place burning without additional preparation.

Additional Information:

History handout provided by the Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce.

Apparently a smaller unit rests at the bottom of the lake as it was stuck in the mud before the valley was flooded, and they couldn't get it out.

Information Sources: Daniel Ouellet and Rita Rewerts , Executive Administrator of the Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce

Picture Source: http://www.perf.bc.ca/mackenzi/attractions.htm and Scotty T.