Steamboats of the Stikine River - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Steamboats operated on the Stikine River in response to gold finds in northwestern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Early activity

The Stikine River

Stikine River

The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States...

in northern British Columbia and Alaska has had three distinct periods of riverboat activity. The first was during the Stikine Gold Rush

Stikine Gold Rush

The Stikine Gold Rush was a minor but important gold rush in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The rush's discoverer was Alexander "Buck" Choquette, who staked a claim at Choquette Bar in 1861, just downstream from the confluence of the Stikine and Anuk Rivers, at...

of 1862, the second during the Cassiar Gold Rush of the 1870s, and the third was in relation to the Klondike

Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...

and Atlin Gold Rushes from 1898 onwards.

Captain 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...

and 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...

vyed for river traffic and fees during the first gold rush. Both were indomitable pioneers chasing goldrushes up the Continent from Oregon to Washington, Idaho and British Columbia. Moore brought his steamer the Flying Dutchman up the river in 1862 as an exploratory side trip to 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...

. The Collins Overland Telegraph Company steamer Mumford ventured up the river in 1866. Another Rush in 1874 to Dease Lake brought the Gem, Western Slope and the Gertrude.

Gold rush of 1898

With the discovery of gold at Dawson City

Klondike Gold Rush

, Yukon on Rabbit Creek in 1897, pandemonium erupted on the Pacific Coast, as unemployed, young, adventurous headed north to seek their fortune. Travelling by boat from Seattle and the 49th Parallel, Sourdoughs embarked for the Lynn Canal and the Chilkoot Pass

Chilkoot Pass

Chilkoot Pass is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett Lake, British Columbia...

. Strangely, materials heading north had to be transhipped first into American territory, unloaded on a beach, hauled overland back into Canadian territory, and then by small boat down the Yukon River to Dawson. Canadian Merchants sought an "All Canadian" route whereby goods could travel by river steamer from Vancouver or Victoria, in bond, pass US territory at Wrangell, and churn up the Stikine river 130 miles to the head of navigation at Glenora, near Telegraph Creek. Some two dozen boats were built or spent a summer or two on the river.

However, the feasibility of the route proved less than advantageous than the Lynn Canal route at Skagway.The packers would have to move supplies 150 miles north along the Collins Overland Telegraph line to Teslin Lake

Teslin Lake

Teslin Lake is a large lake spanning the border between British Columbia and Yukon in Canada. It is one of a group of large lakes in the region of far northwestern BC, east of the upper Alaska Panhandle, which are the southern extremity of the basin of the Yukon River, and which are known in the...

, and thence down the Yukon to their destination. The completion of the White Pass and Yukon Railway finished dreams of the Teslin route and the steamers moved off the Stikine to other routes. The SS Moyie was built in Toronto in sections to run on the Stikine route. As the project never materialized, the Moyie never saw the Stikine but saw service elsewhere for nearly 60 years.

The Hudsons Bay company maintained a trading post and it needed access. The HBC ran the steamer Port Simpson on the Stikine until 1916.

Boats

The following steamboats and related vessels operated on the Stikine River. Codes for this table are: A = abandoned; B = burned; C = converted; D = dismantled; R = Renamed; S = Sank; T = Transferred; W = Wrecked; X = Explosion of boiler.

Steamboats of the Stikine River
Name	Owner	Year Built	Where Built	Length	Gross tons	End service	Fate
Alaskan	Moore/Meyers	1886	Seattle	84.5 feet (25.8 m)	155		T
Beaver Beaver (sternwheeler 1873) The Beaver was a sternwheel steamboat built in 1873 for the Willamette Transportation Company. This vessel should not be confused with other vessels of the same or similar name, including in particular the 1836 sidewheel steamship Beaver....		1873	Portland Portland, Oregon Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...	125 feet (38.1 m)	292	1878	W
Caledonia (1891)	HBC	1891	New Westminster New Westminster, British Columbia New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....	100 feet (30.5 m)	237	1898	D
Caledonia	HBC	1898	Vancouver	142.4 feet (43.4 m)	569	1898	T
Canadian	CDC	1898	Victoria Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...	125 feet (38.1 m)	716		T
Casca	CTTC	1898	Esquimalt Esquimalt, British Columbia The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the west by Esquimalt Harbour and Royal Roads, to the northwest by the...	140 feet (42.7 m)	590	1901	T
Cassiar	W.J. Stephens	1879	Seattle	129.3 feet (39.4 m)	289	1881	T
Columbian	CDC	1898	Victoria Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...	129.3 feet (39.4 m)	716	1898	T
Courser	A. Peers	1892	New Westminster	125 feet (38.1 m)	161	1898	T
Distributor	GTPR 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...	1908	Victoria	136.6 feet (41.6 m)	607	1908	T
Duchesnay	CPR 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...	1898	Vancouver, BC	120 feet (36.6 m)	277	1898	T
Gypsy Queen		1897	Cottonwood Is., AK	61.8 feet (18.8 m)	107
Glenora		1898	Tacoma Tacoma, Washington Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...	126.2 feet (38.5 m)	542	1898	T
Hamlin	CPR	1898	Vancouver, BC	141.2 feet (43 m)	515	1901	T
Hazelton Hazelton (sternwheeler) The Hazelton was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada from 1901 until 1912. Her first owner was Robert Cunningham who ran a freighting business that served the communities along the Skeena River....	R. Cunningham	1898	Victoria, BC	134.4 feet (41 m)	378	1912	D
Iscoot	KMTTC	1898	Vancouver, BC	143 feet (43.6 m)	590	1898	W
McConnell	CPR	1898	Vancouver, BC	142.2 feet (43.3 m)	727	1898	D
Mono	TTC	1898	Stikine River	120 feet (36.6 m)	278	1898	T
Moyie Moyie (sternwheeler) The Moyie is a paddle steamer sternwheeler that worked on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada from 1898 until 1957.After her nearly sixty years of service, she was sold to the town of Kaslo and restored...	CPR	1898	Nelson, BC Nelson, British Columbia Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...	161.7 feet (49.3 m)	834	1898	T
Minto Minto (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 2 million miles serving the small communities on Arrow Lakes. Minto and her sister Moyie were the last sternwheelers to run in regularly scheduled...	CPR	1898	Nakusp, BC Nakusp, British Columbia The Village of Nakusp is a small community located on the shores of Upper Arrow Lake, a portion of the Columbia River, in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia...	161.7 feet (49.3 m)	829	1898	T
Louise	KMTTC	1883	Seabeck, WA Seabeck, Washington Seabeck is a former mill town in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, on Hood Canal.- History :The name Seabeck comes from the Twana /ɬqábaqʷ/, from /ɬ-/, "far", /qab/, "smooth, calm", and /-aqʷ/, "water"....	91.6 feet (27.9 m)	168	1898	T

Early activity

Gold rush of 1898

Boats

See also