Gwendoline on the Columbia River ca 1894 | |
History | |
---|---|
Canada | |
Name | Gwendoline [1] (CAN #100805 [2] ) |
Owner | Upper Columbia Navigation & Tramway Co. |
Route | Kootenay River in Montana and British Columbia; Columbia River in the Columbia Valley of British Columbia |
Builder | Frank P. Armstrong |
Launched | 1893, at Wasa, BC |
Fate | Fell off flat car into canyon during rail transport in June 1898 and destroyed |
Notes | Wrecked in Jennings Canyon in May 1897 collision with Ruth but returned to service. |
General characteristics | |
Type | inland passenger/freighter |
Tonnage | 91 gross tons; 57 registered tons |
Length | initial:63.5 ft (19 m); as rebuilt:98 ft (30 m) |
Beam | 19 ft (6 m) |
Depth | 3.2 ft (1 m) depth of hold |
Installed power | twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, 8" bore by 36" stroke, 4.3 nominal horsepower, manufactured by R. McCrae, of Tilsonburgh, Ont. |
Propulsion | sternwheel |
Gwendoline was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in British Columbia and northwestern Montana from 1893 to 1898. The vessel was also operated briefly on the Columbia River in the Columbia Valley.
Gwendoline was built in 1893 at Wasa, BC on the Kootenay River for the Upper Columbia Navigation & Tramway Co. of which Capt. Frank P. Armstrong (1859-1923) was a principal. [2] [3]
Some time in 1893 or 1894 Armstrong took Gwendoline north to Columbia Lake and the Columbia River through the Baillie-Grohman canal at Canal Flats, BC. In 1894 Armstrong returned the vessel south back to the Kootenay River. [2] Gwendoline thus became one of only two steamboats (the other was North Star) to use the canal. Because North Star, being longer than the canal's one lock, had actually destroyed the lock in order to make her transit, Gwendoline was only steamboat to use the canal twice, and the only one to use it in a conventional way. [4]
In 1896 Gwendoline was operated on the route from Canal Flats to Fort Steele, BC. During this time the vessel was lengthened from 63.5 ft (19 m ) to 98 ft (30 m ). [2]
Gwendoline was wrecked in Jennings Canyon [5] in May 1897 in a collision with Ruth, another sternwheeler of the Upper Columbia Navigation & Tramway Co. Both vessels were bound downriver. Ruth under Capt. L.B. Sanborn first entered the canyon, with 16 passengers and 80 tons of ore on board. Halfway through the canyon, a log caught in Ruth's sternwheel, which threw the vessel out of control and caused to swing broadside blocking the channel. Gwendoline under Captain Armstrong then came down the river less than an hour later, and smashed into Ruth. No one was killed. [3] [4]
There was some talk that Captain Sanborn should have flagged the channel to warn Gwendoline and his statement that a log had jammed in his sternwheel was questioned. Still, there was no doubt that the Jennings Canyon was dangerous, for of the six sternwheelers that ever traversed the canyon, eventually five were damaged or completely wrecked there. By June 1898 Gwendoline was salvaged, but Ruth was damaged beyond repair. [4]
During 1898, Captain Armstrong and Captain McCormack combined their efforts on the upper Kootenay, with the Armstrong boats North Star and Gwendoline receiving 60% of the freight receipts, with the balance to McCormack's single boat J.D. Farrell. James D. Miller (1830-1914) one of the Northwest's most experienced steamboat captains, commanded Farrell during this time. [4]
1898 was possibly the peak year for steamboat activity on the Kootenay River. By the end the year, business declined sharply on the route as traffic shifted over to newly completed railways, causing Gwendoline to be laid up at Jennings from October 1898 to the spring of 1899 with two other unneeded sternwheelers, North Star and J.D. Farrell. [2] [3]
In 1898 Captain Armstrong went north to join the Klondike Gold Rush, and while he was gone, J.D. Miller (1830-1914) was left in charge of Gwendoline. Miller, one of the most experienced steamboat captains in the Northwest, had the idea of moving Gwendoline by rail around Kootenai Falls. Smaller steamboats had been successfully moved similar distances by rail before, for example Marion and Selkirk. Marion in particular had been moved twice by rail, once in 1890 and again in 1897. The ultimate plan for Gwendoline was to run her on Duncan Lake. [2]
In this case, the execution was flawed. While loaded on two flat cars, the vessel tipped over and fell down 70 feet down a canyon, landing bottom side up, and was a total loss. [2]
Steamboats on the Columbia River system were wrecked for many reasons, including striking rocks or logs ("snags"), fire, boiler explosion, or puncture or crushing by ice. Sometimes boats could be salvaged, and sometimes not.
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.
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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.
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.
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J.D. Farrell was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in western Montana and southeastern British Columbia from 1898 to 1902.
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.
Selkirk was a small sternwheel steamboat that operated on the Thompson and Columbia rivers in British Columbia from 1895 to 1917. This vessel should not be confused with the much larger Yukon River sternwheeler Selkirk.
Marion was a small sternwheel steamboat that operated in several waterways in inland British Columbia from 1888 to 1901.
Annerly was a sternwheel steamboat that operated on the upper Kootenay River in British Columbia and northwestern Montana from 1892 to 1896.
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James D. Miller (1830-1914) was a steamboat captain in the Pacific Northwest from 1851 to 1903. He became well known for his long length of service, the large number of vessels he commanded, and the many different geographical areas in which he served.
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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.
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The Baillie-Grohman Canal was a shipping canal between the headwaters of the Columbia River and the upper Kootenay River in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia at a place now known as Canal Flats, BC. The construction of the canal was required by the provincial government of British Columbia as a condition of the canal's promoter receiving substantial land concessions from the provincial government of British Columbia in the area of Creston, BC. The promoter, William Adolf Baillie-Grohman (1851–1921), was a wealthy adventurer, hunter author, and business promoter. He declared the canal to be complete in 1889. The canal was an expensive failure, being used only three times during its entire existence. In 1902, on the last use by a vessel, the sternwheeler North Star, the sternwheeler's captain, Frank P. Armstrong deliberately blew out the canal's lower lock gates with dynamite to allow the transit of his vessel.
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