Fort Fraser (sternwheeler) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Fort Fraser was a small sternwheeler

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

owned by the Fort George Lumber and Transportation Company a partnership originally held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden from the Fort George

Prince George, British Columbia

Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...

town-site of South Fort George

South Fort George

South Fort George is a suburb of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.Before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the Prince George area was known as Fort George and was a Lheidli T'enneh village and Hudson's Bay Company store....

. The Fort Fraser was intended to be a small prospecting craft that could service not only the Soda Creek

Soda Creek

Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lakein British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the Fraser River, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is located on the left bank of the Fraser River, one mile...

to Fort George section of the upper Fraser River

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

but also the Nechako River

Nechako River

The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River...

and some of its tributaries, enabling her to serve her namesake town of Fort Fraser

Fort Fraser, British Columbia

Fort Fraser is an unincorporated community of about 1000 people, situated near the base of Fraser Mountain, close to both Fraser Lake and the Nechako River. It can be found near the geographical centre of British Columbia, Canada, west of Vanderhoof on the Yellowhead Highway...

.

The Fort Fraser was launched in late June, 1910 and was put under the command of Captain John Bonser

John Bonser (steamship captain)

John Henry Bonser was a steamship captain from Oregon, USA and British Columbia, Canada. He piloted dozens of sternwheelers over his 40 year long career and pioneered many rivers in the Pacific Northwest....

, who was transferred from the company’s other sternwheeler, the Nechacco
Nechacco (sternwheeler)
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...

.
Piloted by Bonser, the Fort Fraser pioneered the upper reaches of the Fraser River, not only successfully navigating the Grand Canyon of the Fraser

Grand Canyon of the Fraser

thumb|right|250px|Scow at Grand CanyonThe Grand Canyon of the Fraser is a short gorge on the Fraser River in north-central British Columbia about 30km upstream from the confluence of the Bowron River and about 100km due east of downtown Prince George, British Columbia...

but also traveling further upriver, thus becoming the first sternwheeler to reach the head of navigation at Tête Jaune Cache. Because of her small size and ability to travel on rivers that were previously unnavigated, she was often chartered by pioneer surveyor

Hydrographic survey

Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/drilling and related disciplines. Strong emphasis is placed on soundings, shorelines, tides, currents, sea floor and submerged...

, Frank Swannell

Frank Swannell

Frank Cyril Swannell was one of British Columbia's most famous surveyors.He came to British Columbia during the era of the Klondike Gold Rush and became a surveyor's assistant. Then, from 1908, he was a professional surveyor and surveyed many regions of British Columbia...

.

Despite these fine accomplishments, the Fort Fraser was never considered to have played a large role during the next few hectic years of rail construction, as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...

crossed the Alberta BC border in 1912 and made its way towards Fort Fraser, where the last spike

Last Spike (Grand Trunk Pacific Railway)

The Last Spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was driven one mile east of Fort Fraser, British Columbia, Canada on April 7, 1914.-History:...

would be driven on April 7th, 1914.

In 1911, Captain Bonser left the Fort Fraser and returned to the Skeena River

Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is 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, and also during the...

to pilot the new sternwheeler, Inlander. The Fort Fraser was then put under the command of Captain George Ritchie, who was without a ship due to the loss of the Nechacco that April, in the ice at the Cottonwood Canyon.
Under Ritchie's command, the Fort Fraser would work intermittently until the fall of 1913 when she would be rebuilt and renamed Doctor after Dr. JK McLennan, a new partner in the company which had also been renamed, and was now the Fort George Lumber and Transportation Company. Outside of short local trips, it is not recorded that the Fort Fraser did any work on the upper Fraser after the fall of 1913.

See also