This article is about a lake steamer in British Columbia. For other uses, see Lytton (disambiguation)

Lytton was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes

Arrow Lakes

The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Beachland is fairly rare, and is interspersed with rocky...

 and the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 in southeastern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 and northeastern Washington from 1890 to 1904.

Design and construction

Lytton was built at Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke is a city in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located east of Vancouver, and west of Calgary, Alberta. The city is situated on the banks of the Columbia River just south of the Revelstoke Dam and near its confluence with the Illecillewaet River...

. She was the first vessel constructed for the newly-formed Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company. Construction began in December 1889, but winter ice conditions forced a suspension of work until April 1890. Alexander Watson, a veteran shipbuilder, supervised the construction, for which he had recruited a crew of carpenters from Victoria, BC. The engines for Lytton were second-hand, coming from the steamer Gertrude which ran on the Stikine

Stikine River

The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States...

 and lower Fraser

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

 rivers from 1875 to 1887.

Lytton was a typical Columbia River steamer. She had three decks, the first one being reserved for freight, machinery and crew quarters, the second for passengers, including cabins and an observation saloon. Down the center of the passenger deck was a dining room with raised clerestory windows At the front of the top deck was placed the pilot house. Just behind the pilot house was a small structure called the "texas

Texas (steamboat)

The texas is structure or section of a steamboat which includes the pilothouse and the crew's quarters. It is located on the skylight roof, which is also called the "texas deck." This long, narrow cabin may be surmounted by the pilothouse.-History:...

", which contained cabins for the officers. Behind the texas was the vessel's single funnel, and on the front of the funnel was the steamer's whistle. In the case of Lytton, the funnel flared out in cone near the top, and may have been fitted with a spark arrestor. This detail was somewhat unique and allows Lytton to be more readily identified in photographs of the period. The foredeck was open, and was often heavily loaded with cordwood fuel or cargo.

Lytton was designed to be a shallow draft vessel to allow her to negotiate rapids and other areas of low water. With no cargo on board, Lytton drew only 19 inches (482.6 mm) of water. When fully loaded with approximately 60 tons of cargo, the draft increased to 2 in 6 in (0.762 m) The flat shallow draft hull was kept in shape by "hog chains" carried on large posts which, tuned by turnbuckles, supported the hull much like a bridge truss.

First voyage down the river and the lakes

Capt. Frank Odlin took Lytton out of Revelstoke for her first commercial trip in early July 1890. Lytton was not a large or luxurious vessel even compared to other steamboats of the time. However, for Revelstoke, Lytton, the first significant steam vessel built in the town, was big news. Historian Downs, relying on accounts of the day described Lyttons departure on her first voyage, leaving Revelstoke:

The downriver voyage began on July 2, 1890 at the dock near where the new large bridge of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 crossed the Columbia River. Lytton then steamed over to the Revelstoke smelter dock, where 65 tons of steel rails, fishplates and other track building supplies were loaded on board.

The destination for these rail supplies, which must have been brought in by the Canadian National Railway, was far down the lakes at Sproats Landing, BC, where the Kootenay River

Kootenay River

The Kootenay is a major river in southeastern British Columbia, Canada and the northern part of the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...

 joins the Columbia

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

. The Kootenay River connected to the Nelson Arm of Kootenay Lake. The Kootenay river could not be navigated from the Columbia through to the Nelson Arm, as it was blocked by Bonnington Falls. In place of steamboat navigation, in the early 1890s a railroad, the Columbia and Kootenay

Columbia and Kootenay Railway

The Columbia and Kootenay Railway was a historic railway in the Interior of British Columbia between Nelson on Kootenay Lake and Robson at the confluence of the Kootenay River and the Columbia River near Castlegar operated as part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.-History pre-1900:The railway was...

 was being built along the Kootenay River from Sproats Landing on the Columbia eastward to Nelson on Kootenay Lake.

Once the rail supplies were loaded, the trip down the Columbia and the lakes began on July 3, 1890 at 11:30 a.m., as crowds cheered on the dock and the nearby steamer Kootenai

Kootenai (sternwheeler)

Kootenai was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1885 to 1895. Kootenai was the second sternwheeler to run on the Arrow Lakes...

. Three of the principals of the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation had supplied most of the money for the construction of the Lytton and two of them, J.A. Mara and Frank Barnard were on board for the steamer's first trip.

Revelstoke was 28 miles (45.1 km) up the Columbia River from the head of the upper Arrow Lake. On her first trip, Lytton took three hours to cover this distance, reaching the upper lake at 2:30 in the afternoon of July 3. This was still considered good time, as the steamer had encountered mechanical problems on the way down, forcing the vessel to stop. This was not surprising for a first run, and her actual steaming speed while underway had been 14 miles (22.5 km) an hour, which was helped by the swift flowing current in the river, ranging between 3 and 7 miles per hour.

Upper Arrow Lake opened up wide and deep after the Columbia River, and Lytton traversed the entire lake by 6:30 p.m. on the evening of July 3. After this point came the Narrows, a 16 miles (25.7 km) stretch of shallow water which lay between the upper and lower Arrow Lakes. After a stop for fuel (called "wooding up"), Lytton passed through the Narrows, reaching the head of the lower lake at 8:10 p.m. The vessel continued steaming down the lake into the night, reaching Sproat's Landing five and one-half hours later. Lyttons actual steaming time subtracting delays was 12.33 miles per hour, and was considered good speed. On the return trip up the river and the lakes, Lytton covered the entire 150 miles (241.4 km) back to Revelstoke in 13.75 hours, for an average speed of 11 miles per hour up river, also considered good.

Connection between transcontinental rail lines

On August 15, 1890, a railroad, the Spokane Falls and Northern been built up to Northport, then called Little Dalles (not to be confused with the other Little Dalles north of Revelstoke.) This railroad connected with the Northern Pacific and there would shortly be a link to the Great Northern at Spokane

Spokane, Washington

Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

. There were however no rail links in the Kootenay region between these transcontinental lines and the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

, and steamers on the Arrow Lakes, including the Lytton were for a time the only connections between the railhead at Northport and the C.P.R. 150 miles (241.4 km) north at Revelstoke. From 1890 to 1897, Lytton was operated on the Arrow Lakes route between Revelstroke and Northport, Washington

Northport, Washington

Northport is a town in Stevens County, Washington, United States. The population was 295 at the 2010 census.-History:Northport was given its name since it was once the northernmost town on the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway...

, although the northern terminus changed to Wigwam, BC as the C.P.R. built an extension south down the eastern bank of the Columbia north of upper Arrow Lake.

Mining boom transport

This became especially important when in the same month that mountains that Lytton was taken on her first voyage, the fabulous Le Roi mining claim was staked at Red Mountain near Trail, B.C

Trail, British Columbia

Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada.-Geography:Trail has an area of . The city is located on both banks of the Columbia River, approximately 10 km north of the United States border. This section of the Columbia River valley is located between the...

. Over 6 million tons of lead/zinc/tin and gold ore were taken out of the claim, worth more than $125 million. One stakeholder bought his stake for $12.50 and sold it for $30,000. The resulting ore boom created a demand for steamboat and rail transportation to the mines near Trail and other parts of the Kootenay mountains. Lytton became part of the ore boom, hauling ore barges to the smelter at Trail.

Runs up to Dalles des Morts (Death Rapids) on the Columbia

From 1897 to 1901, when the water was high enough Lytton was worked on the Columbia above Revelstoke to La Porte, which was at a place called Dalles des Morts

Dalles des Morts

Dalles des Morts, also known as Death Rapids in English, was a famously violent stretch of the Columbia River upstream from Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, now submerged beneath the waters of the Lake Revelstoke Reservoir.-1817:...

, or in English, Death Rapids. Lytton was the first steamboat to work the Columbia River above Revelstoke after the Forty-Nine

Forty-Nine (steamboat)

The Forty-Nine was a steamboat built in 1865 at Marcus, Washington Terr., just above Kettle Falls on the Columbia River to carry travellers and freight north up the Columbia River and the Arrow Lakes to the Big Bend Gold Rush in the Colony of British Columbia...

 in the 1860s and 1870s. One difficult stretch of water, called the Little Dalles, took Lytton six hours to work through upriver. Coming down, the run was timed with a stopwatch, and took only 6 minutes and 51 seconds.

Ferry operations on lower Arrow Lake

From 1898 to 1902 functioned as a ferry and towboat on the south end of lower Arrow Lake between Robson, BC

Robson, British Columbia

Robson is an unincorporated settlement in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is immediately north across the Columbia River from the city of Castlegar, on the west bank of the mouth of Pass Creek. Across Pass Creek on the same side of the Columbia is Raspberry, which was...

 and Robson West. This involved pushing barges across the lake loaded with rail cars and engines run out onto tracks mounted on the barges, and supported the work being done to extend the Columbia and Kootenay Railway

Columbia and Kootenay Railway

The Columbia and Kootenay Railway was a historic railway in the Interior of British Columbia between Nelson on Kootenay Lake and Robson at the confluence of the Kootenay River and the Columbia River near Castlegar operated as part of the Canadian Pacific Railway.-History pre-1900:The railway was...

 westward from Castlegar, BC

Castlegar, British Columbia

Castlegar is the second largest city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. It is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism...

 to Grand Forks and Midway. Lytton continued in ferry service until replaced by a bridge in March 1902.

Dismantled

Historian Affleck summed up Lytton as "a very hard working, profitable vessel." Lytton lasted over ten years, which was a long time for a heavily-worked wooden steamboat on frontier river. After the end of her service life, Lytton was beached above Robson. In 1904, Lytton was dismantled. Some houses in Burton, BC

Burton, British Columbia

Burton is a settlement on the Arrow Lakes in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada.Before european contact, Burton was known as xaieken , a large village of Sinixt first nations people. Burton came to be in the 1890's when gold was found at Cariboo Creek, a steamboat...

 were constructed with materials from the vessel's hull.

Further reading

• Faber, Jim, Steamer's Wake -- Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN 0-9615811-0-7
• Mills, Randall V.
  Randall V. Mills
  Randall V. Mills was an English professor with a variety of interests related to the Pacific Northwest, including steamboats, railroads and folklore.-Early life and education:...
  
  , Stern-Wheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (1977 reprint of 1947 ed.) ISBN 0-8032-5874-7
• Timmen, Fritz, Blow for the Landing -- A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho ISBN 0-87004-221-1

External links

• Lytton on the Columbia River - photograph from the Provincial Archives of British Columbia
  British Columbia
  British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...