Floyd Preston Limited History

In 1946 Floyd Preston was discharged from the Royal Canadian Airforce. During World War II Floyd Preston was a Sargeant based out of Gander Newfoundland and Goose Bay Labrador. His duties at Gander included the maintenance of the airfields. He was later moved to Goose Bay to build runways and maintain them. After the war he bought a 6 wheel drive Army truck outfitted it with a Dump Box on it and went to work. There was a huge influx of immigrants and veterans coming to Canada which created a boom in construction. During the 1950’s Floyd purchased additional trucks and operated a fleet of 3 trucks hauling gravel. In the 60’s Floyd realized that producing and supplying sand and gravel (aggregates) as well as delivering it was more lucrative. Floyd began to approach property owners with gravel deposits on their land and made royalty deals with them to extract it. As the company grew there was a need to incorporate himself, and in July of 1967 Floyd Preston Limited was formed.

Floyd and his wife Madge Preston had three sons; Doug, Wayne and Larry who assisted their father in the business. The oldest son Doug graduated from the University of Toronto with a Degree in Chemical Engineering. Doug persued his own career in the petrochemical industry. The middle son, Wayne gained much experience in repairing the equipment of the family business and decided upon a career as a mechanic achieving his Class ‘A’ Mechanics License. In 1975 joined the family business as a mechanic and remains as an active owner secretary treasurer. The youngest son Larry worked for the family business on the weekends and during the summers and in 1973 after graduating High School joined Floyd Preston Limited on a full time capacity.

During the 70’s and 80’s the company grew to operate numerous properties in Georgina, East Gwillimbury, and Whitchurch Stouffville supplying aggregates to numerous municipal, provincial and commercial projects. In 1974 Floyd negotiated a deal with Ray Jackson to license his property under the Pits and Quarries Act for the purpose of mining sand and gravel. This process took 16 years and before it was approved Ray Jackson died and Floyd Preston had retired. The gravel pit was finally approved in 1990 with David Jackson and Larry Preston on behalf of Floyd Preston Limited became the new partners in this venture.

This new pit was costly to open due to opposition from local residences which subsequently reflected in the selling price of the aggregate. In order for this pit to sell in the market place the construction projects had to be close by.

In 1987 Larry negotiated a deal to purchase a 100 acre parcel of land in kirkfield. After five years in the system approval finally arrived to develop this property into a limestone quarry. In 1999 under the Mining Act Larry staked 450 acres of crown land in Cavendish township and developed it into a granite quarry by 2001. This quarry has a reserve of 30 million tonnes of high quality aggregate for the asphalt paving industry. In 2002 another property was staked under the Mining Act in Mayo Township which contains in excess of 100 million tonnes of calcite and dolomitic marble. This property remains in the early stages of development.

During the 1960’s 70’s and 80’s all the aggregate properties Floyd Preston Limited mined and depleted were then rehabilitated back to farmland, natural habitat or for residential use. In 2006 the Jackson property was depleted and rehabilitated back to agricultural land. Today FPL operates an aggregate depot in East Gwillibury, a granite and limestone quarry in Cavendish Township, and a sand and gravel pit in Uxbridge Township.