Robert C Hammond (sternwheeler) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Robert C Hammond was the last 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...

built for service on the upper Fraser

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...

and 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...

s. She was owned by the Fort George Lake and River Transportation Company, a partnership of George Hammond and his brother. She was launched at the Central Fort George town-site of 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"...

on May 22nd, 1913.
She was built so that George Hammond, the promoter of Central Fort George, could claim that his community had steamer service. Central Fort George was on the Nechako River and the large sternwheelers owned by the BC Express Company

Barnard's Express

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....

, despite a $50 per trip inducement, could rarely call there, as there often were sandbars unless the water was very high. The rival sternwheelers of the 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....

town-site owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company were not interested in helping George Hammond promote Central.
In 1913, the Robert C Hammond made several trips on the Nechako as well as working on the route from 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. For one auspicious moment in her short career, she was going to be a Royal Mail Steamer for the newly formed Imperial Express Company which had been formed by Mayor JT Robinson of Kamloops

Kamloops, British Columbia

Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake. It is the largest community in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the location of the regional district's offices. The surrounding region is more commonly...

and JC Shields of Vancouver, which had managed to win the government mail contract from the BC Express Company.

However, Imperial Express found themselves ill-prepared to meet this challenge and the BC Express Company consented to carry the mail for them for $500 a week.
The Robert C Hammond continued its service until September 1914 when the depressed economic conditions caused by the Great War and the halt on the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway caused her owners to retire her.

See also