Steamboats of the Skeena River
Encyclopedia
The Skeena River
is British Columbia
’s fastest flowing waterway, often rising as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) in a day and can fluctuate as much as sixty feet between high and low water. For the steamboat captains, that made it one of the toughest navigable rivers in British Columbia. Nevertheless, at least sixteen paddlewheel steamboats plied the Skeena River from the coast to Hazelton
from 1864 to 1912.
in 1864 she carried four passengers and 20 tons of freight. However, Coffin soon realized that he was not able to ascend the Skeena without more preparation, and the trip was declared a failure. In 1865, the Collin's Overland Telegraph Company
chartered the Union, and Captain Coffin gave the Skeena another try. The Union fought her way upstream for 90 miles (144.8 km) and could not ascend any further. The telegraph company then decided to build their own sternwheeler, the Mumford, and she left Victoria under Captain Coffin in July 1866. This time Coffin travelled 110 miles (177 km) upstream, a feat he repeated three times, successfully delivering 150 miles (241.4 km) of material for the telegraph line and 12,000 rations for its workers. Passengers during these pioneer journeys did not enjoy a luxurious or relaxing trip. They were often kept busy with bucksaw
s and axes, helping chop wood for the ravenous boiler. The Mumford left the Skeena in October and berthed in New Westminster
. That was the end of her adventures, as the Collins Telegraph Company went defunct when the transatlantic cable was successfully laid.
When the Omineca Gold Rush
began in 1869, it became profitable to attempt navigation on the Skeena again. The Omineca diggings could be easily reached from Hazelton, where a trail ran for 115 miles (185.1 km), passing Fort Babine and Takla Lake. At first, canoes were used to ship the supplies from the coast. Captain William Moore
was under contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) to perform this service, and Robert Cunningham traded as an independent. This was gruelling and perilous work, as well as slow and expensive. The HBC decided in 1889 to build a sternwheeler, the Caledonia, and hired Captain George Odin to be her pilot. She was launched on February 28, 1891, at New Westminster and made her first trip to Hazelton that May, taking nine days to make the trip. The Caledonia was considered a success and began serving not only the Skeena River, but also the northern coastal regions. Captain John Bonser
was hired on to be her captain, and in 1895 the Caledonia was overhauled and lengthened at his request, making her more manoeuvrable.
Bonser named eleven of the canyons and rapids on the Skeena River, using the character of the obstacle as a guide. Among them were the Whirly Gig Rapids, Hornet’s Nest Rapids and the Devil’s Elbow Canyon, where the Skeena rushed directly towards a rock bluff before twisting off to the right. Despite these perils the Caledonia operated for seven seasons until the HBC replaced her with a new sternwheeler in 1898, also named the Caledonia. By this time, the Klondike Gold Rush
was in full swing and there was more interest in the north than ever previously. Robert Cunningham had prospered during this period and now owned a cannery and a lumber mill. He decided that a sternwheeler would be a fine addition to his enterprises, and he bought the Monte Cristo and hired Captain Bonser away from the HBC to pilot it. The HBC built a second sternwheeler, the Strathcona , and were little concerned about Cunningham’s rival vessel.
Then in 1900, Cunningham sent Bonser down to Victoria to design a sternwheeler. This would become the Hazelton
, and under Bonser’s command she soon proved to be superior to the other boats on the Skeena. In her first season, she went to Hazelton thirteen times, making the trip upstream in forty hours and downstream in ten. Realizing that the Strathcona and the Caledonia could not compete, the HBC built a third sternwheeler, the Mount Royal
and hired Captain Johnson as her pilot. On her launch date, April 9, 1902, she got hung up during her launch, and after two hours was freed, only to get caught up again. A bad launch was considered to be an ill omen and, in this case, was one that would be fulfilled.
When the HBC's Mount Royal arrived at the Skeena, rivalry flared between her and the Robert Cunningham’s Hazelton almost immediately, with each captain trying to beat the other's times to Hazelton and back. The standing order from both companies was "beat the other boat." Inevitably, this led to a side by side race, an old but dangerous tradition among sternwheelers. In the spring of 1904, both boats wanted to be the first one of the season to arrive in Hazelton. Captain Bonser started out in the Hazelton first, and while he was wooding-up 105 miles (169 km) upstream, he saw the Mount Royal with Johnson at the helm coming up from behind. Wooding-up was immediately ceased, and the Hazelton pulled into the stream as the Mount Royal approached, and they raced bow to bow. Slowly the Mount Royal gained on the Hazelton. Captain Bonser was having none of it, and he rammed the Mount Royal several times. Johnson lost control and the current carried her back downstream, bow first. Bonser wagged the Hazelton’s stern at the Mount Royal, tooted the whistle and continued triumphantly upstream. Furious, Johnson left the pilothouse unattended to retrieve a rifle and shot at the departing Hazelton. Afterwards, Johnson laid charges on Bonser claiming he deliberately rammed the Mount Royal. Bonser claimed in his defence that it was an accident.
The Federal Department of Marine investigated and decided that both captains were at fault, Bonser for ramming the Mount Royal, and Johnson for leaving the helm. The men were reprimanded and the case was closed.
The HBC and Robert Cunningham came to a mutual decision that the rivalry was not profitable and an agreement was reached to end it. The HBC paid Robert Cunningham $2,500 to tie up his vessel, and they hauled his freight for free. Later, the HBC bought the Hazelton. These new arrangements between the HBC and Robert Cunningham left Captain Bonser without a vessel until 1906 when he took command of the Pheasant, a small sternwheeler that was the butt of many jokes and nicknamed the "Chicken" because it had to scratch so hard to get upstream. She was wrecked that autumn in the Redrock Canyon, the first loss of Bonser’s long career, although not his last. Bonser’s next boat was the Northwest, which was owned by the Northern British Columbia Transportation Company, who also had a hotel and store at Telkwa
. Her main purpose was to deliver liquor from the coast to hotels along the Skeena.
, when disaster struck. A strong wind pushed her into a large rock formation named Ringbolt Island, wedging her crosswise against the current. She held while the passengers and crew scrambled to safety on the shore. Johnson assessed the situation and decided that the Mount Royal could be saved and with ten crewmen, he returned aboard. He had decided that the best way to deal with this problem was to use the capstan
to winch the sternwheeler back over Ringboat Island. This proved to be a disastrous decision. The king post broke and rammed through the bottom of the Mount Royal, and she buckled as the current washed over her, then she rolled upside down and broke into pieces. Although Johnson survived, six of the crewmen drowned, including the first officer. One of the four survivors was rescued by George Little, who would later become the founder of the town of Terrace
. George and a companion spotted the wrecked hull as the wreckage floated past the community of Kitselas
. Curious, they paddled out to it and saw a hand waving at them from a hole in hull. The survivor was the Mount Royal’s chief engineer, Ben Maddigan, who was trapped in the bilge and filthy, but unhurt. After Little chopped him out, he commented that there must have been some air down there. The exhausted engineer replied, "I don’t know about air, but there was one hell of a lot of water!"
Captain Johnson went on to pilot the new sternwheeler built to replace the Mount Royal, the HBC's Port Simpson.
Two months after the Mount Royal was wrecked, another sternwheeler was lost on the Skeena. The Northwest, which would become Bonser’s second loss, hit a rock and sank. There was no loss of life, but she was carrying the winter liquor supply for the towns along the Skeena, and her loss still caused a bit of uproar. In response to this minor crisis, the HBC refitted the Caledonia, and she ran an emergency trip up the Skeena with the much desired supplies. Bonser then moved on to the upper Fraser River
in 1909, where he piloted two sternwheelers before returning to the Skeena in 1911.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
’s western terminus was at Prince Rupert
, and rail construction began from there in 1908. The railway construction firm of Foley, Welch and Stewart
built the Distributor and the Skeena
and purchased the Omineca in 1908. The latter was wrecked later that summer near Port Essington
, but her machinery was put in another sternwheeler, and she was rechristened under the same name in 1909. That same year Foley, Welch and Stewart launched two more steamers, the Operator
and the Conveyor
, which would be piloted by Captain Con Myers and Captain Jack Shannon, respectively. These five sternwheelers had their work cut out for them. The construction of the railway from Prince Rupert to Hazelton was one of the most difficult sections of track that would ever be laid in North America. This 186 miles (299.3 km) stretch would take nearly four years to build and would employ thousands of workers. Four of the company sternwheelers hauled material and supplies for construction, while a fifth, the Skeena
, was used almost exclusively to supply food to the camps of the construction workers. Much of these supplies were provided by meatpacker Pat Burns
, who had wisely anticipated this need and had a built slaughterhouse at Hazelton.
In 1910, the last sternwheeler built for work on the Skeena River was the Inlander. She was owned by residents and businessmen of the area and was piloted by Captain Joseph Bucey for that season of navigation. In 1911, Bucey left for the upper Fraser River where he would work on the sternwheeler BC Express
until 1921. Captain John Bonser, now back from the upper Fraser, replaced Bucey on the Inlander and piloted her for the 1911 and 1912 seasons. Then, that August, the rail line was finished to Hazelton, a death knell for the Inlander. She left Hazelton for the final time on September 13, 1912, under Captain Bonser. When she reached Port Essington, the Inlander was pulled up onto ways and left to rot. Like the Inlander, Captain Bonser had also made his last trip. He died on December 26, 1913.
After 1912 the Skeena River was no longer used for river navigation by sternwheelers. The GTP boats, Operator and Conveyor, were dismantled; their machinery would be used in new sternwheelers that were built at Tête Jaune Cache for east end construction. Their pilots, Captain Myers and Captain Shannon, would stay with them until 1914 when the line was finished. 
The Distributor and the HBC Port Simpson were also dismantled and rebuilt and would later work together on the Mackenzie River
. The HBC's Hazelton became the clubhouse for the Prince Rupert Yacht Club.
The Skeena was purchased by Captain Seymour in 1914 and went on to work on the lower Fraser River. For eleven more years the devotion of her skipper-owner kept her plying the river past Surrey
, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge
, Langley
and Mission
. But when Captain Seymour died in 1925 she lost her only advocate. She was sold and converted to a floating barge for an oil company. Thus ended the last of the Skeena River sternwheelers.
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...
is 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...
’s fastest flowing waterway, often rising as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) in a day and can fluctuate as much as sixty feet between high and low water. For the steamboat captains, that made it one of the toughest navigable rivers in British Columbia. Nevertheless, at least sixteen paddlewheel steamboats plied the Skeena River from the coast to Hazelton
Hazelton, British Columbia
Hazelton is a small town located at the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1866 and has a population of 293...
from 1864 to 1912.
Pioneer sternwheelers
The first sternwheeler to arrive on the Skeena River was the Union, which was owned and operated by Captain Tom Coffin. On her first trip up from VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
in 1864 she carried four passengers and 20 tons of freight. However, Coffin soon realized that he was not able to ascend the Skeena without more preparation, and the trip was declared a failure. In 1865, the Collin's Overland Telegraph Company
Russian American Telegraph
The Russian–American Telegraph, also known as the Western Union Telegraph Expedition and the Collins Overland Telegraph, was a $3,000,000 undertaking by the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1865-1867, to lay an electric telegraph line from San Francisco, California to Moscow, Russia.The route was...
chartered the Union, and Captain Coffin gave the Skeena another try. The Union fought her way upstream for 90 miles (144.8 km) and could not ascend any further. The telegraph company then decided to build their own sternwheeler, the Mumford, and she left Victoria under Captain Coffin in July 1866. This time Coffin travelled 110 miles (177 km) upstream, a feat he repeated three times, successfully delivering 150 miles (241.4 km) of material for the telegraph line and 12,000 rations for its workers. Passengers during these pioneer journeys did not enjoy a luxurious or relaxing trip. They were often kept busy with bucksaw
Bucksaw
A Bucksaw is a hand saw generally used to cut logs or firewood to length . It usually has a metal frame and a removable blade with coarse teeth held in tension by the frame. Lightweight portable or foldable models used for camping or back-packing are also available...
s and axes, helping chop wood for the ravenous boiler. The Mumford left the Skeena in October and berthed in New Westminster
New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....
. That was the end of her adventures, as the Collins Telegraph Company went defunct when the transatlantic cable was successfully laid.
Hudson’s Bay Company and Robert Cunningham
Omineca Gold Rush
The Omineca Gold Rush was a gold rush in British Columbia, Canada in the Omineca region of the Northern Interior of the province. Gold was first discovered there in 1861, but the rush didn't begin until late in 1869 with the discovery at Vital Creek....
began in 1869, it became profitable to attempt navigation on the Skeena again. The Omineca diggings could be easily reached from Hazelton, where a trail ran for 115 miles (185.1 km), passing Fort Babine and Takla Lake. At first, canoes were used to ship the supplies from the coast. Captain William Moore
William Moore (steamship captain)
William Moore was a steamship captain, businessman, miner and explorer in British Columbia and Alaska. During most of British Columbia's gold rushes Moore could be found at the center of activity, either providing transportation to the miners, working claims or delivering mail and...
was under contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) to perform this service, and Robert Cunningham traded as an independent. This was gruelling and perilous work, as well as slow and expensive. The HBC decided in 1889 to build a sternwheeler, the Caledonia, and hired Captain George Odin to be her pilot. She was launched on February 28, 1891, at New Westminster and made her first trip to Hazelton that May, taking nine days to make the trip. The Caledonia was considered a success and began serving not only the Skeena River, but also the northern coastal regions. Captain John Bonser
John Bonser (steamship captain)
John Henry Bonser was a steamship captain from Oregon, USA and British Columbia, Canada. He piloted dozens of sternwheelers over his 40 year long career and pioneered many rivers in the Pacific Northwest....
was hired on to be her captain, and in 1895 the Caledonia was overhauled and lengthened at his request, making her more manoeuvrable.
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
was in full swing and there was more interest in the north than ever previously. Robert Cunningham had prospered during this period and now owned a cannery and a lumber mill. He decided that a sternwheeler would be a fine addition to his enterprises, and he bought the Monte Cristo and hired Captain Bonser away from the HBC to pilot it. The HBC built a second sternwheeler, the Strathcona , and were little concerned about Cunningham’s rival vessel.
Then in 1900, Cunningham sent Bonser down to Victoria to design a sternwheeler. This would become the Hazelton
Hazelton (sternwheeler)
The Hazelton was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada from 1901 until 1912. Her first owner was Robert Cunningham who ran a freighting business that served the communities along the Skeena River....
, and under Bonser’s command she soon proved to be superior to the other boats on the Skeena. In her first season, she went to Hazelton thirteen times, making the trip upstream in forty hours and downstream in ten. Realizing that the Strathcona and the Caledonia could not compete, the HBC built a third sternwheeler, the Mount Royal
Mount Royal (sternwheeler)
The Mount Royal was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River and Stikine Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, from 1902 until 1907. She was named after Lord Strathcona who was also known as Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal....
and hired Captain Johnson as her pilot. On her launch date, April 9, 1902, she got hung up during her launch, and after two hours was freed, only to get caught up again. A bad launch was considered to be an ill omen and, in this case, was one that would be fulfilled.
Sternwheeler race on the Skeena
The HBC and Robert Cunningham came to a mutual decision that the rivalry was not profitable and an agreement was reached to end it. The HBC paid Robert Cunningham $2,500 to tie up his vessel, and they hauled his freight for free. Later, the HBC bought the Hazelton. These new arrangements between the HBC and Robert Cunningham left Captain Bonser without a vessel until 1906 when he took command of the Pheasant, a small sternwheeler that was the butt of many jokes and nicknamed the "Chicken" because it had to scratch so hard to get upstream. She was wrecked that autumn in the Redrock Canyon, the first loss of Bonser’s long career, although not his last. Bonser’s next boat was the Northwest, which was owned by the Northern British Columbia Transportation Company, who also had a hotel and store at Telkwa
Telkwa, British Columbia
Telkwa is a village located along British Columbia Highway 16, nearly 15 km southeast of the town of Smithers and 350 km west of the city of Prince George, in northwest British Columbia, Canada....
. Her main purpose was to deliver liquor from the coast to hotels along the Skeena.
Tragedy of the HBC Mount Royal
In 1907, Captain Johnson was still in charge of the Mount Royal. On the afternoon of July 6, he was returning from Hazelton and was steaming through the Kitselas CanyonKitselas Canyon
Kitselas Canyon, also Kitsalas Canyon is a stretch of the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between the community of Usk and the Tsimshian community of Kitselas. It was a major obstacle to steamboat travel on the Skeena River....
, when disaster struck. A strong wind pushed her into a large rock formation named Ringbolt Island, wedging her crosswise against the current. She held while the passengers and crew scrambled to safety on the shore. Johnson assessed the situation and decided that the Mount Royal could be saved and with ten crewmen, he returned aboard. He had decided that the best way to deal with this problem was to use the capstan
Capstan (nautical)
A capstan is a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to apply force to ropes, cables, and hawsers. The principle is similar to that of the windlass, which has a horizontal axle.- History :...
to winch the sternwheeler back over Ringboat Island. This proved to be a disastrous decision. The king post broke and rammed through the bottom of the Mount Royal, and she buckled as the current washed over her, then she rolled upside down and broke into pieces. Although Johnson survived, six of the crewmen drowned, including the first officer. One of the four survivors was rescued by George Little, who would later become the founder of the town of Terrace
Terrace, British Columbia
Terrace is a city on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. The Kitselas people, a tribe of the Tsimshian Nation, have lived in the Terrace area for thousands of years. The community population fell between 2001 and 2006 from 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 to 11,320 and...
. George and a companion spotted the wrecked hull as the wreckage floated past the community of Kitselas
Kitselas
Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaasü are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaasü means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon, which is on the...
. Curious, they paddled out to it and saw a hand waving at them from a hole in hull. The survivor was the Mount Royal’s chief engineer, Ben Maddigan, who was trapped in the bilge and filthy, but unhurt. After Little chopped him out, he commented that there must have been some air down there. The exhausted engineer replied, "I don’t know about air, but there was one hell of a lot of water!"
Captain Johnson went on to pilot the new sternwheeler built to replace the Mount Royal, the HBC's Port Simpson.
Two months after the Mount Royal was wrecked, another sternwheeler was lost on the Skeena. The Northwest, which would become Bonser’s second loss, hit a rock and sank. There was no loss of life, but she was carrying the winter liquor supply for the towns along the Skeena, and her loss still caused a bit of uproar. In response to this minor crisis, the HBC refitted the Caledonia, and she ran an emergency trip up the Skeena with the much desired supplies. Bonser then moved on to the upper Fraser River
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...
in 1909, where he piloted two sternwheelers before returning to the Skeena in 1911.
Grand Trunk Pacific’s sternwheelers
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...
’s western terminus was at Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
, and rail construction began from there in 1908. The railway construction firm of Foley, Welch and Stewart
Foley, Welch and Stewart
Foley, Welch and Stewart was an early 20th century American-Canadian railroad contracting company.They built miles of track for the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Northern Railway, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Pacific Great Eastern Railway...
built the Distributor and the Skeena
Skeena (sternwheeler)
The Skeena sternwheeler was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from 1909 until 1911. She was built at Robertson's yard in Coal Harbour, Vancouver, in 1908. The other four were the...
and purchased the Omineca in 1908. The latter was wrecked later that summer near Port Essington
Port Essington
Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory...
, but her machinery was put in another sternwheeler, and she was rechristened under the same name in 1909. That same year Foley, Welch and Stewart launched two more steamers, the Operator
Operator (sternwheeler)
The Operator sternwheeler was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The other four were the Conveyor, the Skeena, the Distributor and the Omineca...
and the Conveyor
Conveyor (sternwheeler)
The Conveyor sternwheeler was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The other four were the Operator, the Skeena, the Distributor and the Omineca...
, which would be piloted by Captain Con Myers and Captain Jack Shannon, respectively. These five sternwheelers had their work cut out for them. The construction of the railway from Prince Rupert to Hazelton was one of the most difficult sections of track that would ever be laid in North America. This 186 miles (299.3 km) stretch would take nearly four years to build and would employ thousands of workers. Four of the company sternwheelers hauled material and supplies for construction, while a fifth, the Skeena
Skeena (sternwheeler)
The Skeena sternwheeler was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway from 1909 until 1911. She was built at Robertson's yard in Coal Harbour, Vancouver, in 1908. The other four were the...
, was used almost exclusively to supply food to the camps of the construction workers. Much of these supplies were provided by meatpacker Pat Burns
Patrick Burns (politician)
Patrick Burns was a Canadian rancher, meat packer, businessman, senator, and philanthropist.A self-made man, he built one of the world's largest integrated meat-packing empires, P. Burns & Co., and was one of the wealthiest Canadians of his time...
, who had wisely anticipated this need and had a built slaughterhouse at Hazelton.
Last sternwheeler
BC Express (sternwheeler)
The BC Express was a stern wheel paddle steamer that operated on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, from 1912 to 1919. The BC Express was built for the BC Express Company by Alexander Watson Jr to work on the upper Fraser River between Tête Jaune Cache and Fort George during the busy...
until 1921. Captain John Bonser, now back from the upper Fraser, replaced Bucey on the Inlander and piloted her for the 1911 and 1912 seasons. Then, that August, the rail line was finished to Hazelton, a death knell for the Inlander. She left Hazelton for the final time on September 13, 1912, under Captain Bonser. When she reached Port Essington, the Inlander was pulled up onto ways and left to rot. Like the Inlander, Captain Bonser had also made his last trip. He died on December 26, 1913.
End of an era
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
. The HBC's Hazelton became the clubhouse for the Prince Rupert Yacht Club.
The Skeena was purchased by Captain Seymour in 1914 and went on to work on the lower Fraser River. For eleven more years the devotion of her skipper-owner kept her plying the river past Surrey
Surrey, British Columbia
Surrey is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver, the governing body of the Greater Vancouver Regional District...
, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge
Maple Ridge, British Columbia
Maple Ridge is a District Municipality in British Columbia, located in the northeastern section of Metro Vancouver. Maple Ridge has a population of approximately 68,949.-History:...
, Langley
Langley, British Columbia (city)
The City of Langley is a municipality in Metro Vancouver. It lies directly east of the City of Surrey, adjacent to Cloverdale, and surrounded on the north, east and south by Township of Langley.-History:...
and Mission
Mission, British Columbia
Mission, the core of which was formerly known as Mission City, is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is situated on the north bank of the Fraser River overlooking the City of Abbotsford and with that city is part of the Central Fraser Valley. Mission is the...
. But when Captain Seymour died in 1925 she lost her only advocate. She was sold and converted to a floating barge for an oil company. Thus ended the last of the Skeena River sternwheelers.
See also
- Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British ColumbiaSteamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British ColumbiaTwelve paddlewheel steamboats plied the upper Fraser River in British Columbia from 1863 until 1921. They were used for a variety of purposes: working on railroad construction, delivering mail, promoting real estate in infant townsites and bringing settlers in to a new frontier. They served the...
- Skeena RiverSkeena RiverThe Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...
- Steamboats of the Columbia RiverSteamboats of the Columbia RiverMany steamboats operated on the Columbia River and its tributaries, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, from about 1850 to 1981. Major tributaries of the Columbia that formed steamboat routes included the Willamette and Snake rivers...
- Steamboats of the Peace RiverSteamboats of the Peace RiverThe Peace River, which flows from the Rocky Mountain in British Columbia to Peace-Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca in Alberta, was navigable by late nineteenth and early twentieth century steamboats from the Rocky Mountain Falls at Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion, where there was another set of...
- Steamboats of the Mackenzie RiverSteamboats of the Mackenzie RiverThe Great Mackenzie River in Canada's North is a major artery. Used for thousands of years by the Dene, Beaver , Cree and Athabaskan natives, it was explored by the Scot who lent his name. The river was an important communication link to the North, in a land that for years did not have roads,...
- Steamboats of the Stikine RiverSteamboats of the Stikine Riverright|thumb|Beaver on the Willamette River, OregonSteamboats operated on the Stikine River in response to gold finds in northwestern British Columbia, Canada.- Early activity:...