Steamboats of the Lower Fraser River and Harrison Lake
Encyclopedia
The first steamboat on the Fraser River
was the SS Beaver which entered Pacific waters in 1835. It was an itinerant supply and government vessel roving from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska long before those political entities even came into being.
It was only the Fraser River Gold Rush and the Cariboo Gold Rush
of 1862 which drew more steamers from the Columbia River
at Oregon to Puget Sound
and the Fraser River.
Ships that called in were the Suprize, Enterprise, and the Wilson G. Hunt.
British Colonial Representatives, namely Governor James Douglas
, were worried about an
American monopoly on British trade and thus passed a law preventing steamboat traffic
operating under the American flag from conducting trade in the colony. This did two things, it enacted and enabled a local shipbuilding industry and it made ship owners change flags and registry to British shipping.
Two dominant shipping players came to the fore--William Irving
, an American from
Portland, and William Moore
, a German, who now resided in the New World. Both would
dominate the shipping industry on the coast and would embark on schemes of monopoly
and rate wars.
The boats, by this we mean steam powered sternwheelers, which churned their way 120 miles
up the river to Yale and Hope. The Fraser River was navigable to Yale, above which a fearsome
torrent inhibited regular navigation. Gold seekers were travelling to the area and to the interior
and thus wanted to move from Victoria, the deep sea port, by shallow draft steamer. A Hudson
Bay fort at Fort Langley, sat some thirty miles inland from tidewater. Regular steamer service ran on the Fraser River.
There is a side trip by steamer up the Harrison River
and Lake, steamers would venture north
up the system near Chilliwack, up the deep and long Harrison system, 80 miles north to Port Douglas
where a trail was cut to avoid the Fraser Canyon
.
One Cariboo Gold Rush diarist noted
Got to [Port] Douglas at 7 pm.
Crossed Seaton Lake in Chapman
In 1881 the Canadian Pacific Railway
embarked on building a 3000 mile long railway from
Montreal to Port Moody. To assist this massive project steamers were built. The Skuzzy (sternwheeler)
was built by Andrew Onderdonk
to move supplies and became the only steamer to transit the Fraser Canyon.
Once the railway was opened in 1886 traffic up the valley became easier. Other railways came in
to break the CPR monopoly—the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern, both which built steamers. On the topic, competing railways had steamers on the river to move rail barges.
The CN had the SS Canora which moved boxcars from Port Mann to Victoria; the Great Northern
had barge service from Port Guichon near Ladner to Sidney for its line. In the early years
the steam ferry Surrey ran across the river to serve the farmers from Liverpool to New Westminster.
Steamers provided regular service on the river from 1858 to 1981 when the last paddler was retired. Small farms and outports relied on the service for mail, delivering produce and milk, and connection across a very large river where there were few bridges. Communities up and down the river depended upon the steamers—Ladner, Anniedale, Liverpool, BC Penitentiary, Port Coquitlam, Hammond, Haney, Whonnock, Errock, Kilby, Pitt Late, Stave Lake, Hayward Lake, Agassiz, Hope, Lulu Island, Queensborough, Barston Island, Deas Island and Eburne.
The native people Sto-Lo would be employed to cut firewood and act as deckhands, where their years of river experience by canoe was invaluable. Later vessels would burn coal, and after oil. Steamers floated through the centre of Chilliwack in both the 1894 and 1948 floods.
A fine point must be discussed here in that the lower Fraser is navigable by deep sea shipping.
Freighters from around the world would tie up at Pacific Coast Terminals or Fraser Surrey docks
to load forest products. This is in addition to the hundred or so sawmills that once dotted the river. There were very big sawmills at Fraser Mills, Royal City, Western White Pine and
Queensborough, in addition to two pulp mills.
Tug and barge traffic was prolific and was once 100 percent steam powered. Fish products at
Steveston, pulp and paper at Annacis Island, plywood, limestone, and gravel, scrap metal and cars
were all transferred by barge. It must be said that this form of steamer is more in the coastal
fleet than riverine trade and should be addressed from the individual tug and transport companies.
The SS Samson V is the only Canadian steam-powered sternwheeler that has been preserved afloat. It was built in 1937 by the Canadian federal Department of Public Works as a snagboat for clearing logs and debris out of the lower reaches of the Fraser River and for maintaining docks and aids to navigation. The fifth in a line of Fraser River snagpullers, the Samson V has engines, paddlewheel and other components that were passed down from the Samson II of 1914. It is now moored on the Fraser River as a floating museum in its home port of New Westminster, near Vancouver, B.C.
Many other steamers worked on the river—these were dredges, derricks and cranes. In the early years, dikes, docks, and jetties needed to be built and so barge based steamers were put to work. Later many bridges, airports and factories were built and thus needed cranes and dredges. Fraser River Pile and Dredge was one company as was Dinsmore Dredge. Derricks and snagboats also worked the 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...
was the SS Beaver which entered Pacific waters in 1835. It was an itinerant supply and government vessel roving from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska long before those political entities even came into being.
It was only the Fraser River Gold Rush and the Cariboo Gold Rush
Cariboo Gold Rush
The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Although the first gold discovery was made in 1859 at Horsefly Creek, followed by more strikes at Keithley Creek and Antler Horns lake in 1860, the actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were...
of 1862 which drew more steamers from the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
at Oregon to Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
and the Fraser River.
Ships that called in were the Suprize, Enterprise, and the Wilson G. Hunt.
James Douglas (Governor)
Sir James Douglas KCB was a company fur-trader and a British colonial governor on Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, particularly in what is now British Columbia. Douglas worked for the North West Company, and later for the Hudson's Bay Company becoming a high-ranking company officer...
, were worried about an
American monopoly on British trade and thus passed a law preventing steamboat traffic
operating under the American flag from conducting trade in the colony. This did two things, it enacted and enabled a local shipbuilding industry and it made ship owners change flags and registry to British shipping.
Two dominant shipping players came to the fore--William Irving
William Irving
William Irving may refer to:* William Irving , British Labour Co-operative MP 1945–1955* William Irving , steamship captain from Scotland, active in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia...
, an American from
Portland, and William Moore
William Moore
William Moore, often known as Billy Moore , was an Ulster loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a member of the Shankill Butchers, an Ulster Volunteer Force gang...
, a German, who now resided in the New World. Both would
dominate the shipping industry on the coast and would embark on schemes of monopoly
and rate wars.
The boats, by this we mean steam powered sternwheelers, which churned their way 120 miles
up the river to Yale and Hope. The Fraser River was navigable to Yale, above which a fearsome
torrent inhibited regular navigation. Gold seekers were travelling to the area and to the interior
and thus wanted to move from Victoria, the deep sea port, by shallow draft steamer. A Hudson
Bay fort at Fort Langley, sat some thirty miles inland from tidewater. Regular steamer service ran on the Fraser River.
Harrison River
The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the de facto continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds the lake....
and Lake, steamers would venture north
up the system near Chilliwack, up the deep and long Harrison system, 80 miles north to Port Douglas
Port Douglas
Port Douglas may mean:*Port Douglas, British Columbia, in Canada*Port Douglas, Queensland, in Australia...
where a trail was cut to avoid the Fraser Canyon
Fraser Canyon
The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...
.
One Cariboo Gold Rush diarist noted
- "tues, Feb 17, 1862 Left Southhampton per steamer Shannon.
- April 26, Arrived San Francisco [via Panama Isthmus]
- May 7, Arrived at Asquamalt, walk to Victoria.
- May 12 Left Victoria on the Enterpise, arrived at New Westminster on the Fraser River.
- May 16 Left Westminster by Flying Dutchman, a small steamer on the river.
- May 17 Arrived Harrison River at 8 am. Lft by Union, another small steamer.
Got to [Port] Douglas at 7 pm.
- May 19 Left Douglas 7 am, 70 pound pack, steep hills and very hot.
Crossed Seaton Lake in Chapman
- Mon 20 Walked about 20 miles.
- June 8, Arrived at Quesnelle Forks."
In 1881 the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
embarked on building a 3000 mile long railway from
Montreal to Port Moody. To assist this massive project steamers were built. The Skuzzy (sternwheeler)
Skuzzy (sternwheeler)
The Skuzzy sternwheeler was built by Canadian Pacific Railway contractor Andrew Onderdonk at Spuzzum, British Columbia, and was launched on the Fraser River on May 4, 1882....
was built by Andrew Onderdonk
Andrew Onderdonk
Andrew Onderdonk was a construction contractor who worked on several major projects including the San Francisco seawall in California and the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia. He was born on August 30, 1848 in New York to an established Dutch family. He received his education at the...
to move supplies and became the only steamer to transit the Fraser Canyon.
Once the railway was opened in 1886 traffic up the valley became easier. Other railways came in
to break the CPR monopoly—the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern, both which built steamers. On the topic, competing railways had steamers on the river to move rail barges.
The CN had the SS Canora which moved boxcars from Port Mann to Victoria; the Great Northern
Great Northern
Great Northern may refer to:* Great Northern , led by former 30 Seconds to Mars member Solon Bixler*Great Northern , led by former Mission Mountain Wood Band member Rob Quist...
had barge service from Port Guichon near Ladner to Sidney for its line. In the early years
the steam ferry Surrey ran across the river to serve the farmers from Liverpool to New Westminster.
Steamers provided regular service on the river from 1858 to 1981 when the last paddler was retired. Small farms and outports relied on the service for mail, delivering produce and milk, and connection across a very large river where there were few bridges. Communities up and down the river depended upon the steamers—Ladner, Anniedale, Liverpool, BC Penitentiary, Port Coquitlam, Hammond, Haney, Whonnock, Errock, Kilby, Pitt Late, Stave Lake, Hayward Lake, Agassiz, Hope, Lulu Island, Queensborough, Barston Island, Deas Island and Eburne.
The native people Sto-Lo would be employed to cut firewood and act as deckhands, where their years of river experience by canoe was invaluable. Later vessels would burn coal, and after oil. Steamers floated through the centre of Chilliwack in both the 1894 and 1948 floods.
A fine point must be discussed here in that the lower Fraser is navigable by deep sea shipping.
Freighters from around the world would tie up at Pacific Coast Terminals or Fraser Surrey docks
to load forest products. This is in addition to the hundred or so sawmills that once dotted the river. There were very big sawmills at Fraser Mills, Royal City, Western White Pine and
Queensborough, in addition to two pulp mills.
Tug and barge traffic was prolific and was once 100 percent steam powered. Fish products at
Steveston, pulp and paper at Annacis Island, plywood, limestone, and gravel, scrap metal and cars
were all transferred by barge. It must be said that this form of steamer is more in the coastal
fleet than riverine trade and should be addressed from the individual tug and transport companies.
The SS Samson V is the only Canadian steam-powered sternwheeler that has been preserved afloat. It was built in 1937 by the Canadian federal Department of Public Works as a snagboat for clearing logs and debris out of the lower reaches of the Fraser River and for maintaining docks and aids to navigation. The fifth in a line of Fraser River snagpullers, the Samson V has engines, paddlewheel and other components that were passed down from the Samson II of 1914. It is now moored on the Fraser River as a floating museum in its home port of New Westminster, near Vancouver, B.C.
Many other steamers worked on the river—these were dredges, derricks and cranes. In the early years, dikes, docks, and jetties needed to be built and so barge based steamers were put to work. Later many bridges, airports and factories were built and thus needed cranes and dredges. Fraser River Pile and Dredge was one company as was Dinsmore Dredge. Derricks and snagboats also worked the river.
Ships
- Alexandra
- Annacis
- Bailey GatzertBailey Gatzert (sternwheeler)The Bailey Gatzert was a famous sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. She was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle...
- Blonde
- Brunette
- Colonel Moody
- Dauntless
- Elizabeth A. Irving
- Enterprise
- Essington
- Fearless
- Firefly
- Fort Hope
- Fullness
- Gertrude
- Gleeful
- Governor Douglas
- Gypsy
- Henrietta
- Hodder Tug
- Mighty Mite
- Onward
- Pacific Slope
- Peerless
- Queen
- Reliance
- R. P. Rithet
- Samson
- San Mateo
- Sea Bird
- Shuswap
- Skeena
- Skowlitz
- Surrey
- Swan
- Teaser
- Umatilla
- Western Slope
- William Irving
- Yale
- lilooet
- Hope
Further reading
- Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier, Volume One, ISBN 0888260334
- Hacking, Norman, Captain William Moore, BC's Amazing Frontiersman, ISBN 1-895811-02-3.