In November 1898, she sank during a storm in the worst sternwheeler disaster in Kootenay Lake history. She sank to such a great depth that her wreck would go undiscovered for nearly a century.
Career
City of Ainsworth was launched on May 4, 1892,[1] the third sternwheeler built for service on Kootenay Lake, the first two being Nelson, launched in June 1891, followed by Spokane which worked for the Great Northern Railway. Ainsworth's route was from Kaslo to Nelson, stopping along the way at Ainsworth, Pilot Bay and Balfour. In the years following her launch several more sternwheelers were built for Kootenay Lake, among them, Kokanee, Kuskanook and the famous Moyie, which would serve the area for 59 years and be the last commercial sternwheeler to operate in the province as well as one of the very few that were preserved and can still be viewed today.[2][3]City of Ainsworth, however, faced a far grimmer future.
On November 29, 1898, City of Ainsworth left Nelson for Bonner's Ferry and was caught in a gale-force storm. Loaded down with eight cords of wood on her bow, she began to founder. Passengers and crew were quick to throw the firewood overboard, but then the water rushed down onto her stern and she turned broadside and began to roll in the waves. At one point she rolled over so far that water rushed into her smokestack. The first officer put down one of the two lifeboats, but as soon as five people got in it, it was swamped and four of them were lost in the waves. The second lifeboat was launched with worse results, and another five people were lost. One of the lifeboats was regained and Captain Lean, joined by Seaman Donnelly and Engineer Kale rowed four passengers 3.2km (two miles) through the storm-tossed water and deposited them safely at the shore. The three men made this trip twice more, rescuing all of the remaining passengers, but the final death toll, seven crew members and two passengers, made it the worst sternwheeler disaster on Kootenay Lake.[3]City of Ainsworth sank in 110m (360 feet) of water and its wreckage would not be discovered until 1990, nearly a century later. Once discovered the wreck was designated an underwater heritage site.[4]
August 2023-Diver Johnny Ryan on the wheel of the City of Ainsworth. 110m depth (360ft)
Diving the wreck
In September 1997, several members of the Cambrian Foundation successfully conducted two dives to City of Ainsworth. No previous attempts to dive down to the wreck had been conducted due to its extreme depth, the low visibility in the water and the dangerous surface conditions on Kootenay Lake. The dive team had to decompress for 75 minutes after spending only 10 minutes at the bottom, but they managed to film City of Ainsworth and reported that she was mostly intact and sitting upright.[4]
During the week of August 28 to September 1, 2023, highly experienced divers from Alberta and British Columbia dove the shipwreck. The VexNow team (Divers: Brian Nadwidny, Johnny Ryan, Alan Drake and Glenn Farquhar. Supported by John McCuaig, Terina Hancock and Cathie McCuaig) visited the site 3 times and obtained video and photographic images that show the collapse over the years.
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 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.
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.
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 Conveyor, the Operator, 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.
William Irving was a steamship captain and entrepreneur in Oregon, US and British Columbia, Canada. The Irvington neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, is named in his honor and in New Westminster, British Columbia, his home, "Irving House", is now a heritage site. He was one of the earliest pioneers of steamer travel in the Pacific Northwest and is remembered as one of the most successful and popular captains of the era.
The Moyie is a paddle steamer sternwheeler that worked on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada from 1898 until 1957.
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.
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.
Ainsworth Hot Springs, previously named Ainsworth, is a historic village on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada and has a population of 20. Founded on May 31, 1883, it is the oldest surviving community on Kootenay Lake. Ainsworth Hot Springs is located on Highway 31, 11 miles (18 km) north of Balfour and 12 miles (19 km) south of Kaslo, British Columbia. Today, Ainsworth Hot Springs and the Cody Caves are a popular destination for tourists and spelunkers.
Bonnington was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1911 to 1931. Bonnington and two sisterships were the largest sternwheelers ever built in British Columbia. Bonnington was partially dismantled in the 1950s, and later sank, making the vessel the largest freshwater wreck site in British Columbia.
Minto was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1898 to 1954. In those years of service, Minto had steamed over 3.2 million kilometers serving the small communities on Arrow Lakes. Minto and her sister Moyie were the last sternwheelers to run in regularly scheduled passenger service in the Pacific Northwest. The "Minto" class of sailing dinghies is named after this vessel.
SS Kootenay was a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) wooden-hulled sternwheeler that serviced the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada from 1897 to 1919. She was a large freight and passenger steamship and the first in a series of CPR riverboats built for the Arrow Lakes.
Kuskanook was a wooden, stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on Kootenay Lake, in British Columbia from 1906 to 1931. After being taken out of service, Kuskanook was sold for use as a floating hotel, finally sinking in 1936. The vessel name is also seen spelled Kooskanook.
International was a stern-wheel driven steam boat that operated on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia from 1896 to 1908. International was owned by a Canadian subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway and was involved in sharp competition, including steamboat racing, with similar vessels owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
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