The sternwheelerCharlotte was built in 1896 by Alexander Watson for the Northern British Columbia Navigation Company (NBCNC). The partners of the NBCNC were Stephen Tingley, Senator James Reid and John Irving. She was launched on August 3, 1896 and christened by James Reid's wife after whom she'd been named.[1]
The Charlotte was built to serve the route from Soda Creek to Quesnel on the upper Fraser River and was a far superior craft than either of her predecessors, the Enterprise and the Victoria which had worked that route during the 1860s through to the 1880s. The Charlotte's first captain was Frank Odin. Due to her late launch, her first season was a short one and nearly disastrous. In mid November, Odin had taken her for one last run from Quesnel to Soda Creek and was on the way back when he discovered that ice was running down the river. Odin was forced to tie her up at Steamboat Landing near Alexandria, right in front of where the old hulk of the Victoria was. Not wanting to leave the Charlotte in the frozen river over the winter, her owners decided to buy the wreck from its owner, Robert McLeese, so the Charlotte could be safely berthed in her place.
For the next twelve years the Charlotte plied the route between Soda Creek and Quesnel, delivering the mail and other cargo for the pioneer communities. Her owners saw little need to take her any further north and risk her in the Cottonwood or Fort George canyons. However, by 1907, it was widely known that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would be coming through the province via the Yellowhead Pass and would be going right through Fort George. Tingley, Reid and Irving began considering the feasibility of extending the Charlotte's route further north. Though the Enterprise had successfully navigated those two canyons on her historic trip to Takla Lake thirty-six years earlier, the Charlotte's owners knew that in no ways guaranteed that a regular route could be maintained without great risk. The town of Quesnel was also planning to build a river steamer, one that would be launched for the season of 1909. Local man, Captain DA Foster was to be her pilot and upon inspecting the canyons in late 1907, he petitioned the federal government for funds to remove the obstacles to navigation. His petition was granted and he received $13,000 for this purpose and personally supervised the clean-up of the two canyons. In light of these improvements and the news of the impending railway, the Charlotte's owners gave her an overhaul, widening the bores of her engine and replacing her old manual capstan with a powerful steam-driven one. During this period they also hired Captain Owen Forrester Browne to be her pilot.[2] Throughout the navigating season of 1908, Captain Browne took the Charlotte to the foot of the Cottonwood Canyon several times and became familiar with the area. Finally, after much consultation with some of the local First Nations, Browne decided to attempt the trip.
Soda Creek to Fort George
A dangerous moment: breaking of the ringbolt
On the Charlotte's first trial attempt through the canyons in the fall of 1908, Captain Browne was joined by one of the Charlotte's owners, Captain Irving. Armed with her powerful new capstan and a good supply of dry cordwood, the Charlotte was taken to the foot of the Cottonwood Canyon where her crew attached a line to a newly placed ringbolt and Browne began to line her through. She had nearly reached the head of the canyon, when the ringbolt gave way and the Charlotte went crashing backwards through the canyon. Captain Browne reacted quickly to the crisis, guiding the sternwheeler narrowly past a pile of rocks where she would have been torn open and immediately sank.[1]
After the near accident, Browne and Irving returned to Quesnel and put their own petition in to the government for funds, this time to blast away a large rock that was confining the current in the Cottonwood Canyon. Browne was sure that once this menace was removed, the canyon could be navigated. The funds were issued and the canyon was ready for the 1909 season of navigation. By that spring the Charlotte was joined by two other river steamers, the Quesnel, that Captain Foster had been planning, and the Nechacco, owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company. All three steamers were able to navigate the full route from Soda Creek to South Fort George. By 1910, three others had joined the fleet, the BX, Chilcotin and Fort Fraser. The Charlotte met with several small accidents that summer and then one major one on 15 July, when she hit a reef in the Fort George Canyon and sank. The damage was so extensive that it was October before she was salvaged and taken to Quesnel. Upon assessing the cost of repairing her, and knowing that the little pioneer steamer could not compete against the bigger and more modern BX, her owners decided that any further investment in her could not be justified and she was abandoned on the riverbank at Quesnel.[3]
1 2 West, Willis (1985). Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC. Heritage House. pp.37–39. ISBN0-919214-68-1.
↑ Koppel, Tom (1995). Kanaka:The Untold Story of Hawaiian Pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Whitecap Books. p.104. ISBN1-55110-295-1.
↑ Downs, Art (1971). Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1. Foremost Publishing. ISBN0-88826-033-4.
References and further reading
Downs, Art (1971). Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1. Foremost Publishing. ISBN0-88826-033-4.
West, Willis (1985). Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC. Heritage House. ISBN0-919214-68-1.
West, Willis (1949). The BX and the Rush to Fort George. British Columbia Historical Quarterly.
Koppel, Tom (1995). Kanaka: The Untold Story of Hawaiian Pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. Whitecap Books. ISBN1-55110-295-1.
Barnard's Express, later known as the British Columbia Express Company or BX, was a pioneer transportation company that served the Cariboo and Fraser-Fort George regions in British Columbia, Canada from 1861 until 1921.
Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the Fraser River, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is located on the left (E) bank of the Fraser River, one mile south of the Soda Creek BCR (CN) station, 431.10 ha. 52°19′00″N122°16′00″W
Twelve 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 towns of Quesnel, Barkerville and Fort George. Some only worked the Fraser from Soda Creek to Quesnel, while others went all the way to Tête Jaune Cache or took the Nechako River and served Fort Fraser and beyond.
Owen Forrester Browne was a paddle steamer captain in British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada. He was born in New Westminster and worked on the lower Fraser and Yukon River sternwheelers before coming to the upper Fraser River in the early 1900s.
The Enterprise was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. It was built at Four Mile Creek near Alexandria by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1863. Her captain was JW Doane. The Enterprise was the first of twelve sternwheelers that would work on this section of the Fraser from 1863 to 1921. Though she wasn’t large, she was a wonderful example of the early craft of shipbuilding. All of the lumber she was built from was cut by hand and her boiler and engines had been brought to the building site at Four Mile packed by mule via the wagon road from Port Douglas, 300 miles away.
Victoria was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. She was built at Quesnel by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin-Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1869 to augment the service of Enterprise also built by Trahey for the Wrights. Although the Victoria's hull was new, her engines and boiler had originally been in the Prince of Wales from Lillooet Lake.
Quesnel was a sternwheeler first launched in May 1909 at Quesnel, British Columbia to serve the Soda Creek to Fort George route of the upper Fraser River.
The Nechacco sternwheeler was built for service on the Soda Creek to Fort George route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. She was owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company. The partners in this company were Nick Clark and Russel Peden of South Fort George, who operated a sawmill there. Nick Clark also owned the lots in that townsite and was offering them up for sale. The new steamer was intended to bring prospective property buyers to Fort George and to furnish them with supplies.
The Fort Fraser was a small sternwheeler owned by the Fort George Lumber and Transportation Company a partnership originally held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden from the Fort George town-site of South Fort George. The Fort Fraser was intended to be a small prospecting craft that could service not only the Soda Creek to Fort George section of the upper Fraser River but also the Nechako River and some of its tributaries, enabling her to serve her namesake town of Fort Fraser.
The sternwheeler Chilcotin was built for the Soda Creek to Fort George route of the upper Fraser River. She was built by shipbuilder Donald McPhee for the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company, which was a partnership held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden of the South 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 the BC Express Company's new luxury sternwheeler, BX. Chilcotin had main, promenade and Texas decks, hot and cold running water and stateroom accommodation for fifty.
The Robert C Hammond was the last sternwheeler built for service on the upper Fraser and Nechako Rivers. She was owned by the Fort George Lake and River Transportation Company, a partnership of George Hammond and his brother. She was launched at the Central Fort George town-site of Fort George on May 22, 1913. She was built so that George Hammond, the promoter of Central Fort George, could claim that his community had steamer service. Central Fort George was on the Nechako River and the large sternwheelers owned by the BC Express Company, despite a $50 per trip inducement, could rarely call there, as there often were sandbars unless the water was very high. The rival sternwheelers of the South Fort George town-site owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company were not interested in helping George Hammond promote Central.
The Conveyor 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. Three of these, the Conveyor, the Operator and the Distributor were built at Victoria, British Columbia in 1908 by Alexander Watson Jr.
The BX sternwheeler was the first of two river steamers built for service on the upper Fraser River by the BC Express Company during the busy era of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction. The BX was built at Soda Creek in early 1910 by Alexander Watson Jr, of Victoria, who was one of British Columbia's foremost shipbuilders and the son of the man who had built the Charlotte. The BC Express Company also hired Captain Owen Forrester Browne to be the master of the BX as he was the most experienced upper Fraser River pilot.
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. Three of these, the Conveyor, the Operator and the Distributor were built at Victoria, British Columbia, in 1908 by Alexander Watson Jr.
The BC Express was a stern wheel paddle steamer (sternwheeler) 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 years of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction. The BC Express Company hired Captain Joseph Bucey, an experienced Skeena River pilot, to be her master.
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 supplies.
Gustavus Blin Wright was a pioneer roadbuilder and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. His biggest achievement was building the Old Cariboo Road to the Cariboo gold fields, from Lillooet to Fort Alexandria, but he was also a partner in a freighting firm that operated on the Douglas Road, he ran a toll bridge at Bridge River, near Lillooet, and built part of the road from Quesnel to Barkerville. He was also the original owner of the town of 70 Mile House.
Stephen Tingley was a stagecoach driver and one of the original owners of the pioneer transportation company BC Express that served the Cariboo region in British Columbia, Canada for 60 years, from 1860, when it was first founded as Barnard's Express, until 1920, when it ceased its sternwheeler service.
John Irving was a steamship captain in British Columbia, Canada. He began on the Fraser River at the age of 18 and would become one of the most famous and prosperous riverboat captains of the era. His father, William Irving, was known as the "King of the River" and the neighborhood of Irvington in Portland, Oregon, is named in honor of their family.
The Inlander was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada, from 1910 until 1912. She was owned by the Prince Rupert and Skeena River Navigation Company which was a syndicate of Skeena River businessmen who planned to use the Inlander as a passenger and freight steamer during the busy years of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction.
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