twin steam engines, horizontally mounted, 14" bore by 48" stroke
Propulsion
sternwheel
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.
North Star was built by Louis Pacquet, a shipbuilder from Portland, Oregon, for Capt. Frank P. Armstrong (1859-1923). Armstrong ran sternwheelers on the Kootenay and Columbia rivers under the name of the Upper Columbia Navigation and Tramway Company ("UCN&T"). Armstrong's domination of the Kootenay River steamboat business was threatened by the construction of another new steamer, the J.D. Farrell by the Kootenay River Navigation Company, a firm with financial backing from Spokane, Washington business interests. North Star was technically owned by American subsidiaries of the UCN&T, first the Upper Kootenay Navigation Company and then the International Transportation Company.[2]
In June 1897 North Star started making runs from Jennings, Montana up the Kootenay river to Fort Steele, BC, where significant mining activity was occurring. The route ran through the dangerous stretch of Jennings Canyon where most of the sternwheelers on the upper Kootenay eventually were wrecked or seriously damaged. In April 1898 North Star was likewise wrecked in the Canyon. Armstrong was able to raise the vessel and return her to service. (Most of the Jennings Canyon has now been submerged by the waters behind Libby Dam.[1]
Joint operations with Kootenay River Navigation Company
During 1898, Captain Armstrong and Captain M. L. McCormack, manager of the Kootenay River Navigation Company, 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.[2] In October 1898 railroads were completed in the Kootenay region, and traffic quickly shifted over to the railways, leaving the steamboats without business. North Star was laid up at Jennings, Montana with other upper Kootenay river sternwheelers until 1901, when the A. Guthrie Co. put them back in service to transport supplies for construction of the extension of the Great Northern Railway to Fernie, BC. In the fall of 1901, the railway construction was complete, and North Star and the other steamboats were laid up again.[1][2][3]
Transit of Baillie-Grohman Canal
Lock of the Baillie-Grohman canal probably circa 1895. The lock gates shown in this photograph were deliberately destroyed by Capt. F.P. Armstrong in bringing North Star through the canal in June 1902.Frank P. Armstrong (c1859-1923), captain of North Star
In October 1901 Captain Armstrong bought out the minority interest that Captain James D. Miller (1830-1914) had held in North Star. (Miller had also acted as captain of North Star.)[2] With steamboat business on the upper Kootenay essentially nonexistent, in 1902, Armstrong decided to bring North Star through the Baillie-Grohman Canal at Canal Flats, BC to the upper reach of the Columbia River that began at Columbia Lake and ran down the Columbia Valley to Golden, BC. North Star left Fort Steele on June 4, 1902. North Star was the last steamboat to depart that community, which was in rapid decline because of being bypassed by recent railway construction.[1][3]
The Baillie-Grohman canal had been used by a steamboat just twice before. Both transits were by the sternwheeler Gwendoline which passed through the canal northwards in 1893 or 1894, and then south again in 1894. Gwendoline was a much smaller steamboat than North Star (63.5ft (19m) and 90 gross tons for Gwendoline[4] compared to 130ft (40m)and 380 gross tons for North Star). By 1902, the canal, which for the most part had been dug in soft earth, had sloughed in. Worse for North Star was that the canal included a lock, which was 100ft (30m) feet long. A vessel like North Star which was 130ft (40m), could never have passed through the lock under normal conditions. North Star was also 9inches too wide for the lock. Many at the time considered the task impossible.[1][3]
The Baillie-Grohman canal was only a little over a mile long, but it was in such poor condition that it took two weeks to coax North Star through it. The brush had overgrown the canal and the water was shallow causing the steamer to scrape bottom. At one point, a tree fell onto the steamer, just missing Armstrong's young daughter Ruth (for whom his steamer Ruth had been named). When North Star came to the lock, Armstrong solved the width problem by simply sawing 5 or 6inches off the guards (the thick timber running along the top outside edge of a sternwheeler's hull). The length problem was solved differently. In those days, ore was packed out of mines in the Kootenay country by stuffing oxhides full of the mineral, and dragging or sliding the filled hides to the nearest steamboat landing or rail depot. Anderson had a number of oxhides on board North Star and he had them filled with sand and piled up to form temporary lock gates. He then destroyed the existing gates, and when the North Star was between the pair of temporary lock gates, he blew the forward temporary gates out with dynamite, and the steamer surged forward with the rush of water into the lower part of the canal.[3]
Once through the canal, a low bridge across the Columbia River blocked the vessel's path. Armstrong hoisted the bridge out of the way with the North Star's capstan, then replaced it once the vessel had passed by. North Star finally arrived at Golden on July 2, 1902, thus becoming, with Gwendoline one of the only two steamers ever to operate on both the upper Columbia and the upper Kootenay rivers.[1][3]
Operations on the Columbia River and customs seizure
Captain Armstrong ran North Star on the Columbia river out of Golden for two seasons, but then the Canadian Customs officials realized Armstrong had not paid custom duties on North Star when he'd brought the vessel into Canada permanently from the United States. Technically the vessel was seized by Canadian customs, but in practice this meant that Armstrong was forced take his vessel at Golden until the duty was paid. This apparently did not trouble Armstrong greatly, as he used North Star as a source of spare parts for his other steamboats.[3]
Notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, at 36-37, 57, 59, Alexander Nicholls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000 ISBN0-920034-08-X
1 2 3 4 Newell, Gordon R., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at 22, 24, 37, 42, 67, 249, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966
1 2 3 4 5 6 Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier -- The Story of British Columbia and Yukon Sternwheel Steamers, at 108-09, Superior Publishing, Seattle WA 1972
↑ Gwendoline was lengthened to 98ft (30m) in 1896, after she finished her second transit of the canal.
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, 75–78, 134, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID 1972 ISBN0-87004-221-1
Canal Flats is a village located at the southern end of Columbia Lake, the source of the Columbia River in British Columbia, Canada. In 2016, it had a population of 668.
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.
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.
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.
The Nakusp was a sternwheel steamboat that operated from 1895 to 1897 on the Arrow Lakes of British Columbia.
J.D. Farrell was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in western Montana and southeastern British Columbia from 1898 to 1902.
Gwendoline was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in British Columbia and northwestern Montana from 1893 to 1899. The vessel was also operated briefly on the Columbia River in the Columbia Valley.
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.
Pert was a sidewheel steamboat that operated in British Columbia on the Columbia River from 1887 to 1905, often transporting large loads of timber. Pert was also known as Alert and City of Windermere at times.
James D. Miller 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.
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.
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.
Elwood was a sternwheel steamboat which was built to operate on the Willamette River, in Oregon, but which later operated on the Lewis River in Washington, the Stikine River in Canada, and on Puget Sound. The name of this vessel is sometimes seen spelled "Ellwood". Elwood is probably best known for an incident in 1893, when it was approaching the Madison Street Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The bridge swung open to allow the steamer to pass. However, a streetcar coming in from the east end of the bridge failed to notice the bridge was open, and ran off into the river in the Madison Street Bridge disaster.
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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
