Visit
the SS Moyie National Historic
Site in Kaslo
On December 7, 1898, when
the Canadian Pacific Railway
formally inaugurated its
new “Crows Nest Pass
Railway,” prominent
guests from Rossland, Kaslo,
Nelson, Spokane, Trail and
Revelstoke boarded the sparkling
new Moyie for a gala excursion
from Nelson to Kootenay
Landing.
The Moyie, equipped
with luxurious accommodations
and an elegant dining
saloon, was the premier
vessel of the CPR’s
rail and steamer route
across southern Alberta
and British Columbia.
When the ship was replaced
by the updated Kuskanook
in 1906, the Moyie
continued to operate on
Kootenay Lake, serving
as a relief vessel on
the Crowsnest route, and
carrying passengers, mail
and freight to lakeside
communities such as Lardeau
and Argenta. As the ship’s
functions became increasingly
utilitarian, its decorative
features and furnishings
were removed, but its
original machinery continued
to function until its
retirement in 1957.
The workhorse steamship
– the last passenger
sternwheeler to operate
in Canada – was
preserved by the Village
of Kaslo. It has been
restored to its original
Victorian-era glory under
the direction of the Kootenay
Lake Historical Society.
Visitors to the S.S.
Moyie National Historic
Site in Kaslo
can view the ship’s
elegant décor,
tour the pilot house,
and blow the steamer’s
original whistle. (Open
mid-May – mid-October,
with daily operation.
Check for hours and admission
fees.)
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Kootenay Lake
Crow Boats: the Age of Steam
The shores of Kootenay Lake were
a frenzy of activity in the late 1800’s
and early 1900’s, as mining,
logging and fruit-growing attracted
thousands of new residents to southeastern
British Columbia. As American and
Canadian railroad companies and industrialists
vied for control of the Kootenay’s
rich resources, the area’s transportation
system evolved into a disparate -
and downright dizzying - assortment
of narrow-gauge rail lines, rail spurs,
short lines, including Canadian Pacific’s
controversial “nowhere to nowhere”
Columbia and Kootenay Railway.
Both the Canadian Pacific Railway,
with its Naskup & Slocan
Railway from Revelstoke to
the Slocan mining district, and the
Great Northern Railway, with its Kaslo
& Slocan Railway, competed
for business in the area’s silver
mining districts. The U.S.-based Great
Northern Railway also offered passenger
service to the Kootenay Lake area
through its subsidiary Nelson
and Fort Sheppard Railway.
The GNR’s Kootenay Railway
and Navigation Company operated
a small fleet of steamships connecting
Kootenay Lake communities with rail
lines to the west and south.
In the late 1800’s, spurred
on by growing threats of American
dominance of the Kootenay mining and
smelting industry, the Canadian Pacific
Railway (under the direction of railroad
legend William Van Horne) succeeded
in negotiating an agreement with the
federal government to construct the
Crow’s Ness Pass Railway
(Crowsnest) from Lethbridge, Alberta,
through the Crow’s Nest Pass
to the lower end of Kootenay Lake.
As part of the Crowsnest route, the
CPR extended its reach across the
Lake, from Kootenay Landing to Nelson,
through its takeover of the Columbia
and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company.
The railway quickly added additional
sternwheelers to the existing steamship
fleet. The combined passenger and
freight steamships, including the
Moyie (1898),
the Kuskanook
(1906) and the Nasookin
(1913, now restored as a private home
just north of Nelson) became known
as “Crow Boats,” connecting
the rail lines of the Crowsnest route
via Kootenay Lake. Stately in appearance,
elegantly furnished, and equipped
with expansive lounges and formal
dining rooms, the Kootenay Lake Crow
Boats were a symbol of the golden
age of North American rail travel.
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