The ''Forty-Nine'' was a

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

that operated from the mid-1860s to the early 1870s in today's

West Kootenay The Kootenays or Kootenay ( ) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Boundaries The Kootenays are more or less defined by the Kootenay ...

region of southeastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Construction

Transportation to the

Big Bend Gold Rush The Big Bend Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Big Bend Country of the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866), Colony of British Columbia (now a Canadian province) in the mid-1860s. History Discovery & early miners In 1861, the gold commissioner a ...

in the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: *Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) *Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also *History of Br ...

was not being served by chartered vessels. To address that need, the ''Forty-Nine'' was built using the engine from the scrapped SS ''

Jennie Clark ''Jennie Clark'', also seen spelled ''Jenny Clark'', was the first sternwheel-driven steamboat to operate on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. This vessel was commonly known as the ''Jennie'' when it was in service ...

'', dating from 1855. Largely missing the mining season, the launch occurred in November, 1865.

Name origin

Built about south of the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

at Little Dalles, the vessel was named for the border, which is often called the "49th parallel" because it largely follows that

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

north. Equally, each voyage would cross that border en route to the boomtown of La Porte, a principal landing at the foot of the

Dalles des Morts Dalles des Morts, also known as Death Rapids in English, was a famously violent stretch of the Columbia River upstream from Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, now submerged beneath the waters of the Lake Revelstoke Reservoir. Despite the name, t ...

or "Death Rapids". This navigable head of river was in the immediate vicinity of the goldfields on

Goldstream River The Goldstream River is a tributary of the Columbia River, joining that stream via the Lake Revelstoke reservoir after running largely west from the heart of the northern Selkirk Mountains. The river's name derives from the Big Bend Gold Rush ...

and nearby creeks.

Voyages

On the maiden voyage, Captain Leonard White carried passengers and freight north up the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

and into the

Arrow Lakes The Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada, divided into Upper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake, are widenings of the Columbia River. The lakes are situated between the Selkirk Mountains to the east and the Monashee Mountains to the west. Bea ...

. About halfway to La Porte, typical winter ice blocked the passage. Unable to break through the heavy ice in the narrows between the two Arrow Lakes, passengers disembarked, and the boat returned south. In April 1866, Captain White returned north carrying 73 passengers and 15 tons of freight. To break through ice on Upper Arrow Lake, boards nailed to the bow acted as an ice-breaker. Reaching clear water after five or six miles, later river ice proved less challenging. Charging passengers $25 each, and freight at $200 per ton, that first season paid for the vessel. The to La Porte was covered in 10 days. The gold rush ended that year, but conflicting accounts exist as to the number of trips completed from Marcus, Washington Terr. Sources mention three, four, or 37. The final southbound run from La Porte allegedly carried only three paying passengers, but free passage was provided for miners who could not afford the fare. After striking a floating log near Little Dalles, Washington, the season ended with docking for repairs at the Colville River near Marcus, just above

Kettle Falls Kettle Falls ( Salish: Shonitkwu, meaning "roaring or noisy waters", also Schwenetekoo translated as "Keep Sounding Water") was an ancient and important salmon fishing site on the upper reaches of the Columbia River, in what is today the U.S. ...

. The one trip to the Big Bend in November 1867 returned with 90 miners. A single trip occurred the next year. Meanwhile, voyages to different destinations followed other gold strikes, such as the one on Forty-nine Creek near

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. In 1869, Captain White retired in ill health, and First Mate A.F. Pingston assumed command. That fall, the steamer ran aground near Steamboat Riffle in the Big Bend area. Refloated in 1870, and returned south for repairs, she operated intermittently, such as supplying the

Canadian Pacific Railway survey The Canadian Pacific Survey or Canadian Pacific Railway Survey comprised many distinct geographical surveys conducted during the 1870s and 1880s, designed to determine the ideal route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Although much of the survey's ...

in the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica Pe ...

undertaken by Walter Moberly in November 1871. A final trip to La Porte was made at that time. No known pictures exist.

References

{{Arrow Lakes Steamboats Steamboats of the Arrow Lakes History of British Columbia Paddle steamers of British Columbia Steamboats of Washington (state) Gold rushes Columbia River West Kootenay 1865 ships