Nechacco (sternwheeler) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Nechacco 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 service on 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 on 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...

in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. She was owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company. The partners in this company were Nick Clark and Russel Peden of 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....

, who operated a sawmill there. Nick Clark also owned the lots in that townsite and was offering them up for sale. The new steamer was intended to bring prospective property buyers to Fort George and to furnish them with supplies.

1909

The Nechacco was built by Donald McPhee and was launched in Quesnel

Quesnel, British Columbia

-Demographics:Quesnel had a population of 9,326 people in 2006, which was a decrease of 7.1% from the 2001 census count. The median household income in 2005 for Quesnel was $54,044, which is slightly above the British Columbia provincial average of $52,709....

on May 25, 1909. In her first year of service she was piloted by Captain John Bonser

John Bonser (steamship captain)

John Henry Bonser was a steamship captain from Oregon, USA and British Columbia, Canada. He piloted dozens of sternwheelers over his 40 year long career and pioneered many rivers in the Pacific Northwest....

, an experienced swift-water pilot from the Skeena

Skeena River

The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...

and Yukon River

Yukon River

The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

s. Under his direction, the Nechacco completed several difficult and history making trips. She was the first sternwheeler to reach Fort George from Quesnel, arriving on May 30, barely nudging the Charlotte
Charlotte (sternwheeler)
The Charlotte sternwheeler was built in 1896 by Alexander Watson for the Northern British Columbia Navigation Company. The partners of the NBCNC were Stephen Tingley, Senator James Reid and John Irving...

out of the honor, and the first to ever navigate through the fearsome 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...

, 104 miles upriver from Fort George. She was also be the only sternwheeler to follow in the footsteps of the pioneer ship Enterprise
Enterprise (1862)
The Enterprise was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. It was built at Four Mile Creek near Alexandria by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin-Wright and Captain...

and make the trip to Takla Landing on Takla Lake

Takla Lake

Takla Lake is the fifth largest natural lake in British Columbia, Canada. It is a deep fjord-like lake with the Swannell Ranges to the east, the Driftwood River flowing into it from the north, and the Middle River draining it. It is the terminus of the early Stuart-Takla sockeye salmon run, and...

, as well as the first steamer to take the Nechako River

Nechako River

The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River...

all the way to Stoney Creek. The Nechacco was often chartered by pioneer surveyor Frank Swannell

Frank Swannell

Frank Cyril Swannell was one of British Columbia's most famous surveyors.He came to British Columbia during the era of the Klondike Gold Rush and became a surveyor's assistant. Then, from 1908, he was a professional surveyor and surveyed many regions of British Columbia...

whose survey work took him far and wide along many of the local rivers from 1908 until 1914.

Despite such a prestigious start, she was destined to have the most dramatic end of all the upper Fraser sternwheelers.

1910

In 1910, the Nechacco had been re-registered as the Chilco and was piloted for the first part of the season by Captain Bonser and the latter part by Captain George Ritchie. Late in November, she was on her way back from Soda Creek with South Fort George's winter food supplies and had just passed the Cottonwood Canyon when she hit a reef and sank. The river was nearing freeze up and nothing could be done at that time to salvage her, so the cargo was removed and taken down to Quesnel. Upon hearing of the wreck, one of the Chilco's owners, Russell Peden, and South Fort George hotelier, Al Johnson, immediately snow-shoed down to Quesnel to petition Captain Browne

Owen Forrester Browne

Owen Forrester Browne was a paddle steamer captain in British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada.He was born in New Westminster and worked on the lower Fraser and Yukon River sternwheelers before coming to the upper Fraser River in the early 1900s.-Career:...

, who was then master of 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....

, to make one last trip upriver with the much needed supplies. Browne consented and the supplies were delivered without incident, although ice had already begun to form along the shoreline.

1911

In March 1911, Captain Ritchie returned to the Chilco with his crew and began the salvage operations and temporary repairs that were necessary to get her back to Quesnel where she could be properly made ready for the season. In late April, Ritchie decided that the river was clear and started the trip downstream to Quesnel. Upon entering the head of the Cottonwood Canyon, he saw that the foot of the canyon was blocked solid with ice. The Chilco was rapidly speeding towards the deadly obstacle and it was too late to turn back. Fortunately, the captain and the crew escaped to the shore on the lifeboat and there were no injuries or loss of life. (Other reports were made in the local paper, then the Fort George Herald, that the escape was made onto the ice). Nonetheless, the end result was the same, the crew survived, but the little Chilco did not. She was torn apart in the icy waters and not one piece of her was ever recovered.

1909

1910

1911

See also