SS Columbia (1920)

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SS Columbia (1920)
History
Canadian Red Ensign (1921-1957).svg Canada
Name:Columbia
Owner: Canadian Pacific Railway
Route: Lower Arrow Lake
Builder: Nakusp
Cost: CAD$26 500
Launched: November 4, 1920
Completed: January 1921
Maiden voyage: 1920
In service: 1920-1948
Out of service: 1948
Refit: August 1937
Fate: Buried
General characteristics
Class and type: Steam tug
Length: 80.1 feet (24.4 m)
Beam: 15.4 feet (4.7 m)
Speed: 11 miles per hour (18 km per hour)
Capacity: 34

SS Columbia was a Canadian Pacific Railway passenger and freight steam tug built in 1920. She provided a winter service on Lower Arrow Lake in British Columbia, Canada from 1921 to 1948. [1]

Canadian Pacific Railway railway in Canada

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), also known formerly as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.

Arrow Lakes lake

The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Beachland is fairly rare, and is interspersed with rocky headlands and steep cliffs. Mountain sides are heavily forested, and rise sharply to elevations around 2,600 metres.

British Columbia province of Canada

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.

Contents

Construction

Columbia was built at Nakusp, British Columbia to replace the tugs SS Whatshan and the earlier Columbia of 1896. She was the first boat designed specially for winter service on the Lower Arrow Lake, which was required because SS Minto was restricted to service north of Burton, British Columbia. [2] Columbia had a small, enclosed passenger cabin and a dining room. She was an attractive vessel and was licensed to carry 34 passengers. Her machinery had come from the Columbia of 1896 and allowed a speed of 11 miles per hour. [1]

SS <i>Whatshan</i>

SS Whatshan was a steam tug owned by Canadian Pacific Railway that operated on the Lower Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada from 1909 to 1919. Although she was small, she proved to be the most suited to the Lower Arrow Lake run of all the tugs on the route from 1909 to 1961 because she had enough power to keep the channel open in bad weather when other ships became stranded in ice.

SS Columbia was a large screw-driven tugboat that operated on the Arrow Lakes and Columbia River in British Columbia, Canada.

<i>Minto</i> (sternwheeler)

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.

By September 1920, Columbia was completed just enough to get through the Burton narrows before the water dropped too low in the winter. She was launched from Nakusp on November 4 and finishing touches were added at West Robson and she was completed in January 1921. [2]

Robson is an unincorporated settlement in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is immediately north across the Columbia River from the city of Castlegar, on the west bank of the mouth of Pass Creek. Across Pass Creek on the same side of the Columbia is Raspberry, which was founded as a Doukhobor colony. The two communities are grouped together for census purposes as a single designated place named as Robson/Raspberry.

Service

Because the winter of 1921 was mild, Columbia did not begin service until January 1922. She made two round trips per week, going northbound on Tuesdays and Fridays and southbound on Wednesdays and Saturdays between West Robson and Needles, British Columbia.

Complaints arose during the first months because Columbia was unable to break the ice on the lake and Edgewood Lumber Co's tug Elco had to help her to the Edgewood wharf on one occasion. As a result, CPR built a smaller barge and ice breaker for Columbia.

Edgewood, British Columbia human settlement in Canada

Edgewood is a settlement in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the western shore of Arrow Lake.

In February 1929, Columbia broke her propeller in heavy ice and a week later, service was suspended for nine days when her propeller and barge were damaged by ice. Residents complained about the poor mail service and unreliability, often comparing her to the earlier, more powerful SS Whatshan.

In 1930, her propeller broke at Robson again. At Syringa Creek, eight men from Fairview Shipyards in Nelson, British Columbia brought two trucks and trailers to help her out of the ice. They cleared a channel with dynamite in four days and got her to shore, jacked her up, and changed the propeller. Once released, she got stuck in an ice channel 200 feet away from where she was originally stopped.

In August 1937, she got a new boiler and steampipe. During the trial run to Broadwater, she had a hard time keeping up steam and her smoke stack was too short meaning she couldn’t get enough draft and had to have a taller one installed. [2]

Retirement

Columbia was retired in 1948 with a worn hull. She was temporarily replaced by SS Widget until MV Surfco, which had operated along Vancouver Island, could enter service. Surfco was small and unsuited to handling freight. [1]

Columbia was rested at Balfour Bay and both were covered in the 1960s by fill from the construction of the Hugh Keenleyside Dam. [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Turner, Robert D. (1998). Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs. Winlaw, British Columbia: Sono Nis Press.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Parent, Rosemarie. "The SS Columbia." Arrow Lakes Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2015.
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