Berthed at Steamboat Landing nearAlexandria in 1886
General characteristics
Length
126 ft (38.4 m)
Beam
23 ft (7.0 m)
Propulsion
17 ft 8 in (5.38 m) sternwheel
Victoria was a passenger and freightsternwheeler that was built for service on theSoda Creek toQuesnel route on the upperFraser River inBritish Columbia. She was built at Quesnel by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey ofVictoria forGustavus Blin-Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1869 to augment the service ofEnterprise also built by Trahey for the Wrights. Although theVictoria'shull was new, her engines and boiler had originally been in thePrince of Wales fromLillooet Lake.[1]
TheVictoria was the second of twelve sternwheelers that would work on this section of the Fraser River. She was larger than theEnterprise and more powerful. The two steamers worked together for only three years, when in 1871, theEnterprise was taken up to Takla Landing and abandoned onTrembleur Lake. TheVictoria would work alone on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route for fifteen more years until 1886.
TheFraser River was not considered navigable by sternwheeler betweenYale and Soda Creek due to many hazardous canyons and rapids. The last obstacle to navigation was just downriver from Soda Creek, theSoda Creek Canyon, so the terminus of river navigation on the upper Fraser River was located at Soda Creek. From there a steamer could travel with no obstructions to Quesnel where a stage road ran toBarkerville. The stages ofBarnard's Express would travel on theCariboo Road up from Yale and connect with the Victoria at Soda Creek, a distance of 167 miles (269 km). Passengers and freight would then be transferred onto the sternwheeler and travel upriver 56 miles (90 km) to Quesnel. Once there they would be transferred to company stages again to Barkerville for the last 54 miles (87 km).Victoria made this trip three times a week, from May to October, from 1869 until 1886. She would be taken out of the river and berthed at Steamboat Landing nearAlexandria in the fall of 1886. With her departure the upper Fraser River would be without steamer service until 1906.[2]
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Canada
