Sternwheelers Lytton (in distance), Columbia (center vessel with high pilot house), and Kootenai (on right) at Robson, BC, sometime between 1890 and 1894
Columbia was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1891 to 1894. Columbia should be distinguished from the many other vessels with the same or similar names, including in particular the propeller-driven steamboat Columbia that ran on the Arrow Lakes for many years.
Columbia was the fourth large sternwheeler to run on the 130-mile (210km) long Arrow Lakes (and adjacent stretches of the Columbia River). Before the construction of the Keenleyside Dam in the 1960s, there were two Arrow Lakes, called the upper and lower, which were separated by a stretch of shallow water known as the Narrows. The lakes are part of the Columbia River, which flows into the upper Arrow Lake at Arrowhead, British Columbia, and begins again at the southern end of the lower lake near the towns of Robson and Castlegar. Steamers running on Arrow Lakes typically started from the railheads. In the early 1890s the northern railhead was Revelstoke about 25 miles (40km) up the Columbia River from Arrowhead, where the transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the Columbia. In the south, the Great Northern Railway had reached Little Dalles, Washington by the 1890s. Rail construction was ongoing however. C.P.R. was building an extension south from Revelstoke along the east side of the Columbia River, which would eventually reach Arrowhead. By 1894 the extension had only gone as far as the town of Wigwam, about halfway between Revelstoke and Arrowhead, which became the northernmost point on the route for Columbia.[2][5]
Design and construction
Columbia was built in the United States at Little Dalles (now known as Northport) for the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company. The vessel's hull had been built at Portland, Oregon then disassembled into sections and shipped by rail to Northport to be reassembled and launched. On the Arrow Lakes Columbia was the fifth sternwheeler and the largest ever built up to that time.[2][5]
Operations on Arrow Lakes
John C. Gore, captain of Columbia
Under Captain John C. Gore she made her first trip north from Little Dalles to Robson, British Columbia, on August 20, 1891, leaving at 1:00p.m. and arriving at Robson between 7:00 and 8:00p.m. She left for Revelstoke on August 22, 1891. The addition of Columbia to the C.K.S.N.'s fleet allowed the company to maintain, with the similarly designed sidewheeler Lytton, twice weekly trips from Revelstoke to Little Dalles.[2]
On one trip north, Columbia's hogchains (the steel cables that keep the lightly built hull of an inland steamboat in shape) parted, causing the ship to become hogged, that is the hull sagged at the bow and the stern. This would have made the vessel unsafe to use until the hog chains could be repaired and the hull returned to proper shape.[1]
Construction completed
Columbia had entered operations in the summer of 1891 before she was fully complete. This was done on occasion with steamboats so that they could earn some money during the summer navigation season. (Navigation on the Arrow Lakes and other parts of the Columbia River system was restricted by ice, low water and other winter conditions.) During the post-season lay up at Revelstoke in the fall of 1891, Alexander Watson completed Columbia's construction. He built a new upper row of cabins, called a "Texas" and placed the pilot house (the smaller cabin structure where the ship's wheel was located) on top of the Texas. Electric lighting was also installed. These changes made the Columbia the premier vessel operating on the Upper Columbia. Columbia can be readily distinguished in photographs of the period by her high pilot house.[2]
Loss by fire
On August 2, 1894 Columbia caught fire at a wood yard just north of the international border, at a point about six miles (10km) south of Trail, British Columbia. It was believed that the fire was caused by a crewman falling asleep without extinguishing his pipe. No one was hurt, but Columbia was destroyed. Insurance paid for $15,000 but the economic cost to the company was still severe, because the mining and rail construction business in the area was booming and every vessel was working at full capacity.[2][5]
Salvage and replacement
In a typical pattern of salvage, Columbia's engines were retrieved from the wreck and installed in the Kootenay Lake steamer Kokanee. On the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company replaced Columbia with the Nakusp.[1][2]
Notes
1 2 3 4 Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 ISBN0-920034-08-X
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Turner, Robert D., Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs -- An Illustrated History of the Canadian Pacific Railway's British Columbia Lake and River Service, 4, 6, 7, 13, 17, 19, 27-31, 33, 34, and 67, Sono Nis Press, Victoria, BC 1984 ISBN0-919203-15-9
↑ Paquet is named as her builder by Affleck, at 50. Turner states that Columbia was built "under the direction of" Alexander Watson, who was also the builder of Lytton.
↑ Turner states that Columbia was registered in the United States
1 2 3 Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier -- The Story of British Columbia and Yukon Sternwheel Steamers, at 119 and 122, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1972
Further reading
Faber, Jim, Steamer's Wake—Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN0-9615811-0-7
Timmen, Fritz, Blow for the Landing—A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho ISBN0-87004-221-1
External links
Photos
Columbia and Lytton at Revelstoke, BC This photograph was probably taken in the summer of 1891, before the Texas cabin structure was built on the top deck of Columbia.
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.
Many steamboats operated on the Columbia River and its tributaries, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, from about 1850 to 1981. Major tributaries of the Columbia that formed steamboat routes included the Willamette and Snake rivers. Navigation was impractical between the Snake River and the Canada–US border, due to several rapids, but steamboats also operated along the Wenatchee Reach of the Columbia, in northern Washington, and on the Arrow Lakes of southern British Columbia.
The era of steamboats on the Arrow Lakes and adjoining reaches of the Columbia River is long-gone but was an important part of the history of the West Kootenay and Columbia Country regions of British Columbia. The Arrow Lakes are formed by the Columbia River in southeastern British Columbia. Steamboats were employed on both sides of the border in the upper reaches of the Columbia, linking port-towns on either side of the border, and sometimes boats would be built in one country and operated in the other. Tributaries of the Columbia include the Kootenay River which rises in Canada, then flows south into the United States, then bends north again back into Canada, where it widens into Kootenay Lake. As with the Arrow Lakes, steamboats once operated on the Kootenay River and Kootenay Lake.
Robson is an unincorporated community in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The former steamboat landing and railway terminal is on the northeast side of the Columbia River. The residential area is off Broadwater Road, within the northwest part of Greater Castlegar.
The Rossland was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia. It was named after Rossland, British Columbia, once a prosperous mining town in the region.
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.
Kootenai was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1885 to 1895. Kootenai was the second sternwheeler to run on the Arrow Lakes. This vessel should not be confused with the similarly named Kootenay, an 1897 sternwheeler that also ran on the Arrow Lakes.
Lytton was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes and the Columbia River in southeastern British Columbia and northeastern Washington from 1890 to 1904.
The Nakusp was a sternwheel steamboat that operated from 1895 to 1897 on the Arrow Lakes of British Columbia.
North Star was a sternwheel steamer that operated in western Montana and southeastern British Columbia on the Kootenay and Columbia rivers from 1897 to 1903. The vessel should not be confused with other steamers of the same name, some of which were similarly designed and operated in British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington.
Marion was a small sternwheel steamboat that operated in several waterways in inland British Columbia from 1888 to 1901.
Francis Patrick Armstrong was a steamboat captain in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. He also operated steamboats on the Kootenay River in Montana and on the Stikine River in western British Columbia. Steam navigation in the Rocky Mountain Trench which runs through the East Kootenay region was closely linked to Armstrong's personality and career. In addition to being a steamboat captain, Armstrong was also a prospector, white-water boat pilot and guide in the Big Bend country of the Columbia River.
From 1886 to 1920, steamboats ran on the upper reaches of the Columbia and Kootenay in the Rocky Mountain Trench, in western North America. The circumstances of the rivers in the area, and the construction of transcontinental railways across the trench from east to west made steamboat navigation possible.
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.
SS Illecillewaet was a wooden-hulled stern wheeler that operated on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada from 1892 to 1902. She was built as a replacement for SS Dispatch on the Columbia River and although she was not attractive, she served as a functional freight ship until she was converted into a barge and retired in 1902.
SS Dispatch was a small sternwheeler that operated from 1888 to 1893 on the Columbia River and Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada. She is sometimes referred to as Despatch, though sources from the time period during which she operated usually utilized Dispatch. Dispatch was the first ship to be built for regular steamboat service on the lower Columbia and the beginning of a long line of steamships that opened the area for development.
SS Trail was a sternwheeler used for freight on the Columbia River and Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada. Built to replace SS Kootenai, Trail began service on June 11, 1896 and operated until she burned down in 1900.
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.
Nasookin was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia from 1913 to 1947. Nasookin was one of the largest inland steam vessels ever to operate in British Columbia and the Columbia River and its tributaries. Nasookin became surplus to its original owner, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was transferred to the British Columbia Provincial government which used it as an auto ferry until 1947. Negligent mooring of the steamer in 1948 led to irreparable damage to its hull, and it was later scrapped. Portions of the upper works were salvaged and used as a house.
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