British Columbia Sternwheelers

• Before railways and roads were built, steam-powered sternwheelers were the most important means of travel in British Columbia. Sternwheelers brought in medical personnel, traveling salespeople, mail, packages, goods and machinery, and took out farm produce and ore from mines.

• Most sternwheelers were built of wood. Apart from strong central timbers, lightweight planks were used wherever possible, so that the boat could float in shallow water. (The Ilecillewaet, a steamer that operated on the Arrow Lakes in the 1890’s, had such a shallow draught that it was said that she could “float on dew.”)

• A steam boiler located on the main deck near the bow provided steam to the engines at the stern. Until coal became available in the late 1890’s, boilers were fired with wood. Most sternwheelers had 2 steam engines that drove the stern-mounted paddlewheel.

• Freight was carried on the main deck. Passenger lounges and cabins were located above the main deck.

• The wheel house and officers’ cabins were located above the passenger deck, giving the captain or river pilot a clear view of the water.

• In the 1930’s, as railways and roads were built, most British Columbia sternwheelers were taken out of service. The last operating passenger and freight steamboat was the Moyie, on Kootenay Lake. The last operating steamboat in British Columbia was the Samson V, a small sternwheeler used on the lower Fraser River to keep shipping channels free of snags.