The ''Operator''
sternwheeler
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...
was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (after the Fraser River). Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose n ...
by
Foley, Welch and Stewart
Foley, Welch and Stewart was an early 20th-century American-Canadian railroad contracting company. It was owned and operated by Patrick Welch and J.W. Stewart of Spokane, Washington and T. Foley of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The company was created ...
for construction work on the
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...
. The other four were the ''
Conveyor
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...
'', the ''
Skeena'', the ''
Distributor
A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...
'' and the ''
Omineca''. Three of these, the ''Conveyor'', the ''Operator'' and the ''Distributor'' were built at
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...
, in 1908 by Alexander Watson Jr.
Skeena River
The ''Operator'' began her work on the Skeena River in 1909 under the command of Captain "Con" Myers. She and the other four Foley, Welch and Stewart sternwheelers had their work cut out for them. The construction of the railway from
Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...
to
Hazelton was one of the most difficult sections of track that would ever be laid in North America. This 186-mile stretch would take nearly four years to build and would employ thousands of workers.
At the end of the season of navigation in 1911, the ''Operator'' and her sister ship ''Conveyor'' were finished on the Skeena, but would continue to work on the Grand Trunk Pacific from the other end of construction on the upper
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...
.
Fraser River
The ''Operator'' and the ''Conveyor'' were both taken down to Victoria and dismantled and their machinery and equipment was put in boxcars and shipped by rail to
Jasper, Alberta
Jasper is a specialized municipality and townsite in western Alberta within the Canadian Rockies. The townsite is in the Athabasca River valley and is the commercial centre of Jasper National Park.
History
Established in 1813, Jasper Hou ...
, and then to the end of steel at the eastern end of construction. Because the tracks hadn't reached the head of navigation yet, the boilers and other equipment had to be hauled by mule wagon the last 25 miles to the shipyard at
Tête Jaune Cache
Tête, head in French, may refer to :
* ''Tête'' (sculpture), a 1912 work of art by Amedeo Modigliani; one of the most expensive sculptures ever sold
* "Je danse dans ma tête", a 1991 song from the Dion chante Plamondon album by Céline Dion
* ...
. It was a difficult and dangerous operation, taking a full week, and one construction worker was killed. At Tête Jaune Cache, the machinery was put into new hulls and the two new ships were once again named ''Operator'' and ''Conveyor'' and both were put back under the command of their old captains. Both were launched on at Tête Jaune Cache on May 12, 1912.
The ''Operator'' was a large and powerful steamer, capable of carrying 200 passengers, 200 tons of freight, and could also handle a 100-ton barge.
In 1912, the ''Operator'' and the ''Conveyor'' began work on the upper Fraser but were confined to the area around Tête Jaune Cache as it was a season of very low water and river navigation for these large sternwwheelers was nearly impossible.
The ''Operator'' and the ''Conveyor'' worked regularly during the season of 1913 and then were berthed for the winter at Mile 142 on the downriver side of a new low-level bridge that had just been built, which had cut off navigation for sternwheelers to go further upriver. This bridge had come as an unpleasant surprise to the
BC Express Company, which had been promised that the bridges along the upper Fraser would be built with lift-spans to allow sternwheelers access to travel underneath them. However, the low-level bridge made no difference to the two Foley, Welch and Stewart boats, who were finished on this section of the upper Fraser.
In 1914, their next task would be to work on the construction for the
Pacific Great Eastern Railway
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
which was being built from
Fort George south. Their new route would take them from
Fort George to
Soda Creek
Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the Fraser River, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is ...
.
The ''Operator'' and the ''Conveyor'' worked this route from May to August 1914, serving the new work camps and hauling supplies and equipment for rail construction.
However, that August would bring the onset of the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the halting of construction of the Pacific Great Eastern. The ''Conveyor'' and the ''Operator'' both ceased work immediately and were hauled out of the river and left to rot at Foley's Cache at Fort George.
See also
*
Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British Columbia
*
List of ships in British Columbia
The following is a list of vessels notable in the history of the Canadian province of British Columbia, including Spanish, Russian, American and other military vessels and all commercial vessels on inland waters as well as on saltwater routes up t ...
References
*
*
*
*
Notes
{{Steamboats British Columbia
Paddle steamers of British Columbia
1909 ships
Steamboats of the Skeena River