Chilcotin atSouth Fort George 1914
History
Canada
Name	Chilcotin
Laid down	1910 inSoda Creek, British Columbia
Launched	July 20, 1910
In service	1910
Out of service	1914
Fate	Retired 1914
General characteristics
Type	Sternwheeler
Length	134.5 ft (41.0 m)
Beam	23.5 ft (7.2 m)
Notes	No.126945

ThesternwheelerChilcotin was built for theSoda Creek toFort George route of the upperFraser River. She was built by shipbuilder Donald McPhee for theFort George Lumber and Navigation Company, which was a partnership held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden of theSouth Fort George town-site of Fort George.Chilcotin was the largest of the company's three sternwheelers and was intended to run as competition against theBC Express Company's new luxury sternwheeler,BX.Chilcotin had main, promenade and Texas decks, hot and cold running water and stateroom accommodation for fifty.

She was built at Soda Creek in late 1909 and early 1910, downstream from where the BC Express Company were buildingBX. A friendly rivalry quickly developed between the two construction camps and as soon asChilcotin's builders learned thatBX was going to be 5 feet (1.5 m) wider thanChilcotin, they teased the workers from the other camp, saying thatBX would never fit through the narrow channels of the Cottonwood and Fort George canyons and called her the "White Elephant". This rumor spread far past the town of Soda Creek and soon the employees of the BC Express Company found themselves being consoled by their friends and associates for "having built a dud".^[1] However,BX proved to be a far superior craft andChilcotin, was never much competition to her.^[2]

Chilcotin waslaunched on July 20, 1910 and was put under the command of Captain Arthur Francis Dogherty. She made her first trip up to Fort George that August, but on the return trip to Soda Creek, she had an accident in the Fort George Canyon and had to be taken back to South Fort George. The vessel was laid up at South Fort George for the rest of the season.^[3]

In 1911,Chilcotin wasoverhauled and put under the command of DA Foster, who was also the captain of the sternwheelerQuesnel. That season she would make several trips up the Fraser toGiscome Portage and theGrand Canyon of the Fraser as well as working on the Soda Creek to Fort George route. However, unlikeBX which could run this route on a twice-weekly basis,Chilcotin could only advertise a weekly service.^[3]Chilcotin worked on the upper Fraser until 1914, when, with the depressed economic conditions caused byWorld War I and the halting of the construction of thePacific Great Eastern Railway, her owners decided to retire her.

• Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British Columbia
• List of ships in British Columbia

• Downs, Art (1971).Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1. Foremost Publishing.ISBN 0-88826-033-4.
• West, Willis (1985).Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC. Heritage House.ISBN 0-919214-68-1.
• West, Willis (1949).The BX and the Rush to Fort George. British Columbia Historical Quarterly.

• Paddle steamers of British Columbia
• 1910 ships