Last updated Captain Bonser and Ida (upper left) on the Chilco (1910)
John Henry Bonser was a steamship captain from Oregon, United States and British Columbia, Canada. He piloted dozens of sternwheelers over his 40-year-long career and pioneered many rivers in the Pacific Northwest.
John was born in 1855 at Sauvie Island near the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon, the second son of James Halstead Bonser. Riverboating was a tradition in the Bonser family, as both John's father and grandfather had been rivermen on the Scioto and Ohio rivers.[1]
Oregon
In 1871, when John was 16, he and his older brother, Thomas Albert Bonser, left home and began working on riverboats on the Cowlitz, Lewis and Columbia rivers, doing everything from piloting the crafts to cooking in the galleys. Then in 1880, Albert drowned while working as a deckhand on the sternwheeler Latona. John considered quitting the river trade, but told his family that he would never let any river beat him.
For the next thirty-one years, he would keep that promise and would gain the reputation of being one of the best swift-water pilots in the business.
In 1881 John married Ida English and built a home in Woodland, Washington. On many occasions Ida would travel with John, even when their children, daughter, Viroqua, and son, Francisco, were born, the family would live on whatever sternwheeler John was piloting at the time. Ida would take the wheel if John was called away on an emergency and provided nursing care to sick or injured passengers and crew. When John began designing his own sternwheelers, he always made sure that a living quarters was built so that his family could accompany him.
sternwheeler Mascot wooding up, somewhere on the Columbia or Lewis rivers, circa 1900
In 1882, John became the master of the Latona on the Lewis River and then went on to captain the "Queen of the Riverboats" on the Lewis, the Mascot, which offered daily service to Portland, and provided important transportation and delivery services for the settlements along the river.[1]
British Columbia
Hudson's Bay Company Caledonia
In 1892, John Bonser was contacted by Captain George Odin, a Fraser River captain, who was currently employed by the Hudson's Bay Company to navigate a route on the Skeena River from Port Essington to Hazelton. Several attempts had been made by other pilots to navigate the treacherously swift Skeena River but none had been successful. Part of Odin's letter read, "We understand that you have the reputation of not being afraid to take a steamboat over Niagara Falls, across the Sahara Desert or from hell to breakfast. We've got the boat here and we want a man to take it into the mountains. If you think you can do it the job is yours."[1]
The boat in question was the Caledonia. Bonser took the job and he and his family moved to British Columbia, building a home in Vancouver.
The Caledonia was considered a success and began serving not only the Skeena River, but also the northern coastal regions. In 1895, the Caledonia was overhauled and lengthened at Bonser's request, making her more maneuverable. Bonser named eleven of the canyons and rapids on the Skeena River, using the character of the obstacle as a guide. Among them were the Whirly Gig Rapids, Hornet’s Nest Rapids and the Devil’s Elbow Canyon where the Skeena rushed directly towards a rock bluff before twisting off to the right. Despite these perils the Caledonia operated for seven seasons.[2]:64
By 1898, the Klondike Gold Rush was in full swing and there was more interest in the north than ever previously. A business rival of the Hudson's Bay Company, Robert Cunningham, bought the Monte Cristo and hired Captain Bonser away from the HBC to pilot it. Then in 1900, Cunningham sent Bonser down to Victoria to design a sternwheeler specifically for the Skeena River. This would become the Hazelton and under Bonser’s command she soon proved to be superior to all the other boats on the river. In her first season, she went to Hazelton thirteen times, making the trip upstream in forty hours and downstream in ten. Realizing that the new HBC sternwheeler Strathcona and the Caledonia could not compete, the HBC built a third sternwheeler, the Mount Royal and hired Captain Johnson as her pilot.
Sternwheeler race on the Skeena River
HBC Mount Royal
When Captain Johnson's Mount Royal arrived at the Skeena, rivalry flared between her and Bonser’s Hazelton almost immediately, with each captain trying to beat the other's times to Hazelton and back. The standing order from both companies was "beat the other boat." Inevitably, this led to a side-by-side race, an old but dangerous tradition among sternwheelers.
In the spring of 1904, both boats wanted to be the first one of the season to arrive in Hazelton. Captain Bonser started out in the Hazelton first, and while he was wooding-up 105 miles upstream, he saw the Mount Royal with Johnson at the helm coming up from behind.
Wooding-up was immediately ceased and the Hazelton pulled into the stream as the Mount Royal approached and they raced bow to bow. Slowly the Mount Royal gained on the Hazelton. Captain Bonser was having none of it and he rammed the Mount Royal several times. Johnson lost control and the current carried her back downstream, bow first. Bonser wagged the Hazelton’s stern at the Mount Royal, tooted the whistle and continued triumphantly upstream. Furious, Johnson left the pilothouse unattended to retrieve a rifle and shot at the departing Hazelton. Afterwards, Johnson laid charges on Bonser claiming he deliberately rammed the Mount Royal. Bonser claimed in his defense that it was an accident. The Federal Department of Marine investigated and decided that both captains were at fault, Bonser for ramming the Mount Royal, and Johnson for leaving the helm. The men were reprimanded and the case was closed.[2]:66–68
The HBC and Robert Cunningham came to a mutual decision that the rivalry was not profitable and an agreement was reached to end it. Cunningham tied up his vessel, and the HBC hauled his freight for free. Later, the HBC bought the Hazelton. The new arrangements between the HBC and Robert Cunningham left Captain Bonser without a vessel until 1906 when he took command of the Pheasant, a small sternwheeler that was the butt of many jokes and nicknamed the "Chicken" because it had to scratch so hard to get upstream. She was wrecked that autumn in the Redrock Canyon, the first loss of Bonser’s long career, although not his last. Bonser’s next boat was the Northwest, which was owned by the Northern British Columbia Transportation Company, a company which also had a hotel and store at Telkwa. The Northwest's main purpose was to deliver liquor from the coast to hotels along the Skeena.[3]:134
In September 1907, the Northwest was lost, when she hit a rock and sank. There was no loss of life, but she was carrying the winter liquor supply for the towns along the Skeena, and her loss still caused a bit of uproar. In response to this minor crisis, the HBC refitted the Caledonia and she ran an emergency trip up the Skeena with the much desired supplies.[3]:215 Bonser then moved on to the upper Fraser River in 1909, where he would pilot two sternwheelers before returning to the Skeena in 1911.
In 1909, John Bonser was hired by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company of South Fort George to pilot the Nechacco, which would later be renamed the Chilco. Under his command the Nechacco would be the first sternwheeler to navigate the treacherous Grand Canyon of the Fraser.[2]:51–54
Captain John Bonser (third from left) near the Nechako River
The Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company then built the Fort Fraser in which Bonser pioneered the route to Tête Jaune Cache in 1910. Both sternwheelers would often be chartered by pioneer surveyorFrank Swannell who traveled on them to areas he was surveying in the Nechako Valley along the Stuart and Nechako rivers.[4]
John Bonser returned to the Skeena River in 1911 and piloted the Inlander for the 1911 and ‘12 seasons of navigation. Then, that August, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line was finished to form Prince Rupert to Hazelton, a death knell for the local sternwheelers. On September 13, 1912 the Inlander left Hazelton for the final time, the last of the sternwheelers on the Skeena River. When she reached Port Essington, the Inlander was pulled up onto ways and left to rot.[3]:231 Captain Bonser died just over a year later, on December 26, 1913 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland. He was buried next to his son, Francisco, at the Deer Island Cemetery near Goble, Oregon.[1]
The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada. Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River," respectively. The river and its basin sustain a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and vegetation; and communities native to the area depend on the health of the river. The Tsimshian migrated to the Lower Skeena River, and the Gitxsan occupy territory of the Upper Skeena.
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.
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.
The Skeena River is British Columbia’s fastest flowing waterway, often rising as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) in a day and fluctuating as much as sixty feet between high and low water. For the steamboat captains, that wide range made it one of the toughest navigable rivers in British Columbia. Nevertheless, at least sixteen paddlewheel steamboats plied the Skeena River from the coast to Hazelton from 1864 to 1912.
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.
The Charlotte sternwheeler was built in 1896 by Alexander Watson for the Northern British Columbia Navigation Company. 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.
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 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 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.
Skuzzy was a sternwheeler built by Canadian Pacific Railway contractor Andrew Onderdonk at Spuzzum, British Columbia, and was launched on the Fraser River on May 4, 1882. Skuzzy was the first sternwheeler to ever navigate the perilous rapids north of Yale in the Fraser Canyon.
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.
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.
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.
Mount Royal was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River and Stikine Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, from 1902 until 1907. She was named after Lord Strathcona who was also known as Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.
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.
Steamboats operated on the Stikine River in response to gold finds in along that river and in the Cassiar Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada.
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