The Chilcotin sternwheeler

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

 was built for the Soda Creek

Soda Creek

Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lakein 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 located on the left bank of the Fraser River, one mile...

 to Fort George

Prince George, British Columbia

Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...

 route of the upper Fraser River

Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...

. She was built by shipbuilder Donald McPhee for the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company, which was a partnership held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden of the South Fort George

South Fort George

South Fort George is a suburb of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.Before the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914, the Prince George area was known as Fort George and was a Lheidli T'enneh village and Hudson's Bay Company store....

 town-site of Fort George. The Chilcotin was the largest of the company’s three sternwheelers and was intended to run as competition against the BC Express Company’s

Barnard's Express

Barnard's Express, later known as the British Columbia Express Company or BX, was a pioneer transportation company that served the Cariboo and Fraser Fort George regions in British Columbia, Canada from 1861 until 1921....

 new luxury sternwheeler, the BX

BX (sternwheeler)

The BX sternwheeler was the first of two river steamers built for service on the upper Fraser River by the BC Express Company during the busy era of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction....

. The Chilcotin had main, promenade and Texas decks, hot and cold running water and stateroom accommodation for fifty.
She was built at Soda Creek in the winter of 1909 and ’10, just down from where the BC Express Company happened to be building the BX. A friendly rivalry quickly developed between the two construction camps and as soon as the Chilcotin’s builders learned that the BX was going to be five feet wider than the Chilcotin, they teased the workers from the other camp, saying that the BX would never fit through the narrow channels of the Cottonwood and Fort George canyons and called her the "White Elephant". This rumor spread far past the town of Soda Creek and soon the employees of the BC Express Company found themselves being consoled by their friends and associates for "having built a dud".
Unfortunately, (for the owners of the Chilcotin anyway), the BX proved to be a far superior craft and the Chilcotin, was never much competition to her.

The Chilcotin was launched on July 20, 1910 and was put under the command of Captain AF Doherty. She made her first trip up to Fort George that August, but on the return trip to Soda Creek, she had an accident in the Fort George Canyon and had to be taken back to South Fort George, where she was left for the rest of the season.
In 1911, the Chilcotin was overhauled and put under the command of DA Foster, who was also the captain of the Quesnel

Quesnel (sternwheeler)

The Quesnel sternwheeler was first launched in May 1909 at Quesnel, British Columbia to serve the Soda Creek to Fort George route of the upper Fraser River....

. That season she would make several trips up the Fraser to Giscome Portage

Giscome Portage

The Giscome Portage was a portage between the Fraser River and Summit Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The south end of the portage is now the location of a heritage site, the Huble Homestead, which is located on the Fraser River, 40 km north of Prince George and 6 km off Highway...

 and the Grand Canyon of the Fraser

Grand Canyon of the Fraser

thumb|right|250px|Scow at Grand CanyonThe Grand Canyon of the Fraser is a short gorge on the Fraser River in north-central British Columbia about 30km upstream from the confluence of the Bowron River and about 100km due east of downtown Prince George, British Columbia...

 as well as working on the Soda Creek to Fort George route. However, unlike the BX which could run this route on a twice-weekly basis, the Chilcotin could only advertise a weekly service.
The Chilcotin worked on the upper Fraser until 1914, when, with the depressed economic conditions caused by World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and the halting of the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, her owners decided to retire her.

See also

• Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British Columbia
  Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British Columbia
  Twelve paddlewheel steamboats plied the upper Fraser River in British Columbia from 1863 until 1921. They were used for a variety of purposes: working on railroad construction, delivering mail, promoting real estate in infant townsites and bringing settlers in to a new frontier. They served the...
  
  
• List of ships in British Columbia