Hyak (sternwheeler)

	Waterfront at Golden, British Columbia. Smaller steamer on left may be Hyak. Large steamer on right is probably Duchess
History
United States
Name:	Hyak (CAN #100687 [1] )
Owner:	Upper Columbia Navig. & Tramway Co.; Columbia River Lumber Co.
Operator:	Frank P. Armstrong
Port of registry:	Golden, BC
Route:	Inland British Columbia on the Columbia River in the Columbia Valley
Launched:	1892 at Golden, BC
Fate:	Removed from service, 1906
General characteristics
Type:	inland passenger/freighter
Tonnage:	39 gross tons; 24.6 registered tons
Length:	81 ft (25 m)
Beam:	11.2 ft (3 m)
Depth:	3.9 ft (1 m) depth of hold
Installed power:	twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, 6" bore by 24" stroke, 2.4 nominal horsepower, manufactured 1892 Jencks Machine Co., Sherbrooke, Que.
Propulsion:	sternwheel

Last updated April 08, 2019

Hyak was a sternwheel steamboat that operated in British Columbia on the Columbia River from 1892 to 1906. Hyak should not be confused with the Puget Sound propeller-driven steamboat also named Hyak. The name means "swift" or "fast" in the Chinook Jargon.

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province.

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.

Hyak was a wooden-hulled steamship that operated on Puget Sound from 1909 to 1941. This vessel should not be confused with the sternwheeler Hyak which ran on the extreme upper reach of the Columbia River at about the same time. The name means "swift" or "fast" in the Chinook Jargon.

Design and construction

Hyak was built at Golden, BC in 1892 for the Upper Columbia Navig. & Tramway Co., of which Capt. Frank P. Armstrong was the principal owner and manager.^[1]^[2]

Golden, British Columbia Town in British Columbia, Canada

Golden is a town in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located 262 kilometres (163 mi) west of Calgary, Alberta and 713 kilometres (443 mi) east of Vancouver.

Operations

Hyak was operated on the upper Columbia route from Golden to Windermere Lake. In 1903 Hyak was sold to the Columbia River Lumber Company, which hired Armstrong to manage its steamboat operations.^[1]^[3]

Lake Windermere is a very large widening in the Columbia River. The village of Windermere is located on the east side of the lake, and the larger town of Invermere is located on the lake's northwestern corner. The average depth of the lake is only 15 feet (4.6 m).

Fate

Hyak was removed from service in 1906.^[1]

Notes

1 2 3 4 Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, at 53, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 ISBN 0-920034-08-X
↑ Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier -- The Story of British Columbia and Yukon Sternwheel Steamers, at 101-112, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1972
↑ McCurdy, H.W., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 5, 88-89, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966

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[Affleck-1] 1 2 3 4 Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, at 53, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 ISBN 0-920034-08-X

[Downs-2] Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier -- The Story of British Columbia and Yukon Sternwheel Steamers, at 101-112, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1972

[McCurdy-3] McCurdy, H.W., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 5, 88-89, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966

v t e Steamboats of the Columbia River headwaters
Steamboats	Duchess (1886) Duchess (1888) Marion (1888) Pert (1890) Annerly (1892) Hyak (1892) Gwendoline (1893) Selkirk (1895) Rustler (1896) Ruth (1896) J.D. Farrell (1897) North Star (1897) Ptarmigan (1903) Isabella McCormack (1908) Klahowya (1910) Nowitka (1911) F.P. Armstrong (1913)
Motor vessels	Invermere (1912)
Landings	Golden Parson Spillimacheen Edgewater Radium Hot Springs Athalmer Invermere Windermere Fairmont Hot Springs Canal Flats Wasa Fort Steele Jennings, Montana Libby, Montana
Canals	Baillie-Grohman Canal
Companies	Upper Columbia River Nav. & Tramway Co. Kootenay River Navig. Co.
Geography	Columbia River Kootenay River Columbia Valley Spillimacheen River Canal Flats
Personnel	Frank P. Armstrong James D. Miller William A. Baillie-Grohman
Railways	Canadian Pacific Railway (mainline)
BC steamboats	Upper Fraser, Nechako and Stuart Rivers Skeena River Arrow Lakes and Columbia River Slocan Lake Kootenay Lake Columbia Lake-East Kootenay Lakes Route (Seton, Anderson and Lillooet Lakes) Lake Okanagan Skaha Lake Thompson-Shuswap Stikine River Peace & Finlay Rivers Steamboats of the Inside Passage Gulf of Georgia-Lower Fraser
NW steamboats	Columbia River Oregon Coast Willamette River Yaquina Bay and River Coquille River Cowlitz River Puget Sound Lake Washington Grays Harbor Chehalis River Hoquiam River Willapa Bay Columbia River (Wenatchee Reach) Lake Crescent Lower Kootenai River Upper Kootenai River