Clifton & McKinley Landing.

How Clifton & McKinley Landing took shape

Clifton and McKinley Landing are quiet hillside areas north of Knox Mountain. McKinley Landing began with John McKinley, who homesteaded here from 1896 and sold firewood to CPR steamships. The hillside was subdivided decades ago into view lots with public beach accesses, and the area was evacuated during the 2023 wildfires.

Long before roads, this steep shoreline north of Knox Mountain was reached by water. In 1896 John McKinley, an Ontario settler who came west by covered wagon through the United States, took up land here and stayed about thirty years. His landing became a regular stop for Canadian Pacific Railway steamships, whose crews came ashore to load wood for the boilers. Nothing of the landing survives. BC Geographical Names later recorded McKinley Landing as an official community name. The modern neighbourhood came with subdivision of the hillside more than forty years ago, when it became a retreat for people building lake view homes. Planners set aside lots as public beach accesses, which is why several small parks still reach the water.

McKinley Landing has no commercial zoning, and a fire hall and community park mark its centre. To the south, Clifton Road North climbs through Magic Estates and the Clifton Highlands. In 2016 the City considered a 200 unit Melcor subdivision designed to eventually connect Clifton Road through to McKinley Landing in its fourth phase, a link residents had debated since at least 2014. Summer 2023 tested the area. A small fire on Knox Mountain on July 1 brought brief evacuation orders, later eased to alerts, for Magic Estates and Clifton, and on August 17 embers from the McDougall Creek fire crossed the lake. Clifton Road North and McKinley were ordered to evacuate, and the Walroy Lake fire destroyed three homes and two outbuildings in the Clifton and North Glenmore area.

1. 1982McKinley Landing is recorded as an official community name by BC Geographical Names (decision dated March 31, 1982). Source

The homes & their setting

The McKinley Landing hillside was subdivided more than forty years before 2020, giving a stock of older view homes (many in a west coast style) mixed with newer custom builds on generous lots. Clifton adds hillside subdivisions such as Magic Estates and the Clifton Highlands. Mostly freehold detached homes.

Building age, tenure, amenities and permitted uses vary by address. Explore the actual property documents with Elaine and the appropriate specialists.

Places with a story

• McKinley Landing Park and Fire Station 9 — Mark the centre of a subdivision that has no commercial zoning. History source
• Dubbin Road and Dewdney Road beach accesses — Public lake accesses set aside when the hillside was first subdivided. History source