SS ''Illecillewaet'' was a wooden-hulled stern wheeler that operated on the
Arrow Lakes in
British Columbia,
Canada from 1892 to 1902.
[Turner, Robert D. (1998). ''Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs''. Winlaw, British Columbia: Sono Nis Press.] She was built as a replacement for
SS Dispatch
SS ''Dispatch'' was a small sternwheeler that operated from 1888 to 1893 on the Columbia River and Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, Canada. She is sometimes referred to as ''Despatch'', though sources from the time period during which she operat ...
on 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 although she was not attractive, she served as a functional freight ship until she was converted into a barge and retired in 1902.
["Steamships Of The Columbia." Steamships Of The Columbia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2015.]
Commission
''Illecillewaet'' was commissioned soon after Captain James William Troup took over as general manager of the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company (C&KSN) in 1892. She was built at the shipyard in
Revelstoke, British Columbia to replace ''Dispatch'', which had never been successful because her service was hindered during low water and when the water froze in winter. ''Illecillewaet'' was designed to "float on dew" with her shallow draft to enable operation during those times.
Design
''Illecillewaet'' was not attractive, with a wooden hull similar that of a flat-bottomed barge and a blunt bow to break ice in the winter. However, she was useful as a freight carrier, especially during low water and when a small boat was preferable to a larger steamer with higher operating costs and a larger crew. She featured basic cedar cabins and was powered by two horizontal by 4.3 nominal horsepower engines manufactured at
Albion Iron Works,
Victoria, British Columbia.
["Illecillewaet." Nauticapedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2015.]
Service
''Illecillewaet'' was launched on October 30, 1892. She transferred freight with
''Kootenai'' for growing railway construction and also serviced the north end of Upper Arrow Lake to
Beaton, British Columbia
Beaton is at the head of the Beaton Arm of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The locality is sometimes confused with nearby Evansport.
In 1896, the steamboat landing became the eastern terminal for the ...
, as well as the trail heads leading into the Trout Lake mining district in the southeast. In the late 1890s, she hauled rail and construction materials with
SS ''Trail'' for the extension of the
Columbia and Western Railway The Columbia and Western Railway (C&W) was a historic, and initially narrow gauge, railway in southern British Columbia.
Heinze ownership Proposal & planning
Fritz Augustus Heinze, who opened a smelter at Butte, Montana in 1893, was seeking inve ...
to the Boundary district. In 1897, ''Illecillewaet'' and
SS ''Lytton'' provided a new barge service from
Robson, British Columbia to West Robson to haul coal from the Crowsnest mines to
Trail, British Columbia. In 1902, a bridge was built and ''Illecillewaet'' was converted into a barge for the Arrow Lakes. Her bow was reinforced to break ice.
Retirement
Later in 1902, ''Illecillewaet'' was retired and sold for CAD$500. She was dismantled and the cedar planking from her cabins were put into several nearby homes in
Burton, British Columbia Burton is a settlement on the east shore of Lower Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia.
Before European contact, Burton was known as Xaieken, a large village of Sinixt first nations people. Inadequate archeologic ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Illecillewaet
Steamboats of the Arrow Lakes
West Kootenay
Ships built in British Columbia