TheSkeena River isBritish Columbia's fastest flowing waterway, often rising as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) in a day and fluctuating as much as sixty feet between high and low water. For the steamboat captains, that wide range made it one of the toughest navigable rivers in British Columbia. Nevertheless, at least sixteenpaddlewheel steamboats plied the Skeena River from the coast toHazelton from 1864 to 1912.
The first sternwheeler to arrive on the Skeena River was theUnion, which was owned and operated by Captain Tom Coffin. On her first trip up fromVictoria 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, theCollin's Overland Telegraph Company chartered theUnion, and Captain Coffin gave the Skeena another try. TheUnion fought her way upstream for 90 miles (140 km) and could not ascend any further. The telegraph company then decided to build their own sternwheeler, theMumford, and she left Victoria under Captain Coffin in July 1866. This time Coffin travelled 110 miles (180 km) upstream, a feat he repeated three times, successfully delivering 150 miles (240 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 withbucksaws and axes, helping chop wood for the ravenous boiler. TheMumford left the Skeena in October and berthed inNew Westminster. That was the end of her adventures, as the Collins Telegraph Company went defunct when the transatlantic cable was successfully laid.[1]: 62
When theOmineca 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 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 theHudson's Bay Company (HBC) to perform this service, andRobert 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, theCaledonia, 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. TheCaledonia was considered a success and began serving not only the Skeena River, but also the northern coastal regions. CaptainJohn Bonser was hired on to be her captain, and in 1895 theCaledonia 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 theCaledonia operated for seven seasons until the HBC replaced her with a new sternwheeler in 1898, also named theCaledonia. By this time, theKlondike 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 theMonte Cristo and hired Captain Bonser away from the HBC to pilot it. The HBC built a second sternwheeler, theStrathcona, 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 theHazelton, 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 theStrathcona and theCaledonia could not compete, the HBC built a third sternwheeler, theMount 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.[1]: 63–66
When the HBC'sMount Royal arrived at the Skeena, rivalry flared between her and the Robert Cunningham'sHazelton 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 theHazelton first, and while he was wooding-up 105 miles (169 km) upstream, he saw theMount Royal with Johnson at the helm coming up from behind. Wooding-up was immediately ceased, and theHazelton pulled into the stream as theMount Royal approached, and they raced bow to bow. Slowly theMount Royal gained on theHazelton. Captain Bonser was having none of it, and he rammed theMount Royal several times. Johnson lost control and the current carried her back downstream, bow first. Bonser wagged theHazelton's stern at theMount Royal, tooted the whistle and continued triumphantly upstream. Furious, Johnson left the pilothouse unattended to retrieve a rifle and shot at the departingHazelton. Afterwards, Johnson laid charges on Bonser claiming he deliberately rammed theMount Royal. Bonser claimed in his defence that it was an accident.[2]
The Federal Department of Marine investigated and decided that both captains were at fault, Bonser for ramming theMount Royal, and Johnson for leaving the helm. The men were reprimanded and the case was closed.[1]: 66, 67
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 theHazelton.[1]: 68 These new arrangements between the HBC and Robert Cunningham left Captain Bonser without a vessel until 1906 when he took command of thePheasant, 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 theNorthwest, which was owned by the Northern British Columbia Transportation Company, who also had a hotel and store atTelkwa. Her main purpose was to deliver liquor from the coast to hotels along the Skeena.[3]: 134
In 1907, Captain Johnson was still in charge of theMount Royal. On the afternoon of July 6, he was returning from Hazelton and was steaming through theKitselas Canyon, 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 theMount 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 thecapstan 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 theMount 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 ofTerrace. George and a companion spotted the wrecked hull as the wreckage floated past the community ofKitselas. Curious, they paddled out to it and saw a hand waving at them from a hole in hull. The survivor was theMount 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!"[1]: 68–70
Captain Johnson went on to pilot the new sternwheeler built to replace theMount Royal, the HBC'sPort Simpson.Two months after theMount Royal was wrecked, another sternwheeler was lost on the Skeena. TheNorthwest, 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.[3]: 215 In response to this minor crisis, the HBC refitted theCaledonia, and she ran an emergency trip up the Skeena with the much desired supplies. Bonser then moved on to the upperFraser River in 1909, where he piloted two sternwheelers before returning to the Skeena in 1911.
TheGrand Trunk Pacific Railway's western terminus was atPrince Rupert, and rail construction began from there in 1908. The railway construction firm ofFoley, Welch and Stewart built theDistributor and theSkeena and purchased theOmineca in 1908. The latter was wrecked later that summer nearPort 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, theOperator and theConveyor, 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-mile (299 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, theSkeena, was used almost exclusively to supply food to the camps of the construction workers. Much of these supplies were provided by meatpackerPat Burns, who had wisely anticipated this need and had a built slaughterhouse at Hazelton.[1]: 71, 72
In 1910, the last sternwheeler built for work on the Skeena River was theInlander. 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 sternwheelerBC Express until 1921. Captain John Bonser, now back from the upper Fraser, replaced Bucey on theInlander and piloted her for the 1911 and 1912 seasons. Then, that August, the rail line was finished to Hazelton, a death knell for theInlander. She left Hazelton for the final time on September 13, 1912, under Captain Bonser.[3]: 231 When she reached Port Essington, theInlander was pulled up onto ways and left to rot. Like theInlander, Captain Bonser had also made his last trip. He died on December 26, 1913.[2]
After 1912 the Skeena River was no longer used for river navigation by sternwheelers. The GTP boats,Operator andConveyor, were dismantled; their machinery would be used in new sternwheelers that were built atTête Jaune Cache for east end construction. Their pilots, Captain Myers and Captain Shannon, would stay with them until 1914 when the line was finished.
TheDistributor and theHBC Port Simpson were also dismantled and rebuilt and would later work together on theMackenzie River. The HBC'sHazelton became the clubhouse for the Prince Rupert Yacht Club. TheSkeena 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 pastSurrey,Coquitlam,Maple Ridge,Langley andMission. 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.[1]: 44
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See also:Puget Sound mosquito fleet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
