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William Moore (steamship captain)
Encyclopedia
William Moore was a steamship captain, businessman, miner
and explorer in British Columbia
and Alaska
. During most of British Columbia's gold rushes
(from the Queen Charlottes in 1852 until the Cassiar Gold Rush in 1872) Moore could be found at the center of activity, either providing transportation to the miners, working claims or delivering mail and supplies.
In 1887, guided by First Nation's explorer Skookum Jim (who later co-discovered the Klondike Goldfields), William Moore was guided through the White Pass
route that would become a famous route to the Klondike Gold Rush
and purchased the land that later became the famous gold rush town of Skagway. Throughout his 87 years, he would father four sons and three daughters and make and lose at least three separate fortunes. His friends and rivals would give him many nicknames, among them, William "Buddy" Moore and "The Flying Dutchman".
and by age 24, his adventures brought him to New Orleans, Louisiana
.
s on the Mississippi River
. In 1848, he served in the Mexican-American War aboard the USS Lawrence
. That same year, he became a citizen of the United States
and his eldest son, John (JW), was born. In 1851, he moved his family to San Francisco, but arrived too late to participate in the California Gold Rush
.
Tepic for the Queen Charlotte Islands
where gold had been discovered on Moresby Island
.
After a month of fruitless prospecting, the Moores returned to San Francisco. Not one to sit for long, William became intrigued by the wealth of the Incas and he packed up his wife and son and embarked to Peru
, where he purchased a schooner and traded up and down the Peruvian coast. In 1854, his second son, William D. Moore (Billie), was born at Callao
. However, Hendrika was frightened by the ongoing revolutions in Peru, and they returned to San Francisco in 1856. Moore purchased property on Goat Island
and raised goats. Also in 1856, his third child, daughter Henrietta, was born.
in British Columbia. He immediately sold his Goat Island property, packed up his livestock (mostly goats) and family onto his schooner and embarked for Victoria
, where he would build the family home and have a fourth child, son Henry. Upon his arrival, Moore built a 15 ton barge
named Blue Bird. As 30,000 gold-seekers poured into what would soon be the Colony of British Columbia
, Moore made his first fortune, not in mining, but in providing transportation for the miners and delivering their supplies up the Fraser River to Fort Hope
. In 1859, he replaced the cumbersome barge with a sternwheeler
named the Henrietta, built by James Trahey at Victoria and launched in October. To pilot her, Moore hired Captain John Deighton
, also known as "Gassy Jack", who would later be renowned as the first resident of Granville, which would become Vancouver.
The Henrietta navigated the Fraser River to Yale
in February 1860, but Moore soon replaced her with a new and more powerful sternwheeler, the Flying Dutchman
, which was launched in Victoria that September. She operated on the Harrison Lake
route between "Harrisonmouth" (since named Harrison Mills) and Port Douglas
.
New Westminster soon had an opportunity to be grateful to Captain Moore, when the bitterly cold winter of 1861-62 froze the Fraser River from Lulu Island
to Hope and isolated New Westminster from December until March 12, when Moore used the Flying Dutchman paddlewheel first and spent three days smashing a passage through the ice so supplies could be delivered to the little community.
Nevertheless, that spring the competition on the Fraser River resulted in rate wars between Moore and his main rival, Captain William Irving
, so Moore began looking for greener pastures and soon found one on the Stikine River
, which he was the first to navigate by sternwheeler.
on the Stikine, Moore charged $100 a ton for freight, and $20 fare per man, plus a 5 cent per pound baggage fee. Meals and berths were extra. During the 1862 season, he made a profit of $20,000. He returned to Victoria that fall and met his fifth child, daughter Wilhemina.
In 1863, Moore returned the JW Moore and the Flying Dutchman to the Fraser River and, deciding to invest his Stikine fortune, ordered another sternwheeler from James Trahey, the Alexandra, which (having two funnels) was styled in the manner of Mississippi paddle steamers and would be the largest steamboat to that date on the Fraser.
Moore intended for her to run from Victoria to Yale, connecting with the Flying Dutchman on Harrison Lake, but the Alexandra proved to be too big and expensive to operate and only made a few trips on that route. Moore suffered additional financial hardship as rate wars raged between him and his rival, William Irving, driving steamer fares down to as low as 25 cents for the trip between New Westminster and Yale. The rivalry involved Victoria and New Westminster as well, as Moore was from the former and Irving from the latter. The rivalry between the towns reached new heights when insults were traded in the local papers, with New Westminster saying that Victoria was "built on a frogpond" and Victoria retorting that New Westminster was "a pimple on the face of creation".
By 1865, Moore had lost the Flying Dutchman and the Alexandra and declared bankruptcy
. Moore was not out of business for long, however, and soon purchased another sloop
and moved his family and their goats to New Westminster, where Hendrika had their sixth child, son Bernard. Moore then purchased the barge Lady of the Lake, equipped it with sails and renamed it Marcella and ran it from New Westminster through Puget Sound
to Olympia, Washington
.
on Kamloops Lake
to Seymour City (Seymour Arm
) on Shuswap Lake
, but his rival, Captain Irving, won the contract. Moore decided to purchase another barge and ran it on that route with his eldest son, John. The Big Bend Gold Rush ended shortly afterwards, and Moore purchased land in Kamloops and his family, with their omnipresent goats, joined him there, ironically making part of the trip on Captain Irving's sternwheeler, Onward.
.
and built another barge. In the spring of 1870, the barge was completed and Hendrika took the youngest children to Victoria, while eldest sons John and Billie stayed behind. Billie would work for a merchant in Quesnel, while John accompanied his father on the barge. It was loaded with supplies and hauled 230 miles (370.1 km) up north via the Fraser, Nechako
, and Stuart
Rivers and through Stuart Lake
onto Tachie River to Trembleur Lake to Middle River
, finally arriving at Takla Lake
where Takla Landing
led to the trails to the Omineca diggings.
After delivering the supplies, Moore and John began prospecting, but had no luck, and come winter, they left the barge on Takla Lake and took the Babine trail to Hazelton
, canoeing down the Skeena River
to the coast, where they took the steamship Otter back to Victoria.
In the spring of 1871, Moore built another schooner, the Minnie, and loaded her with more supplies for the Omineca district and went up the coast, accompanied by his sons, John and Henry, a crew of thirty men, and a herd of mules. But even an experienced riverboat captain like Moore could not ascend the entire length of the perilous and swift Skeena River with a loaded barge. Facing starvation, his crew left, and Moore and his sons had to drive the mules the remaining 90 miles (144.8 km) to Hazelton on foot. Taking the Babine trail back to Takla, they were joined by Billie, and the four Moores ran the barge and the pack mules for the Omineca miners for the rest of that season.
They returned to Victoria that fall and embarked to Omenica again in the spring of 1872, with a contract from the Hudson's Bay Company
to freight supplies up the Skeena to Hazelton. At Port Essington
, Moore built two more barges and two large canoes, and hired 24 First Nations men of the Haida, Tongass and Tsimpsean tribes: 12 to crew the barges and 12 more to man the canoes. William captained the first barge, John, the second, while Bille and Henry each captained a canoe. After navigating through the treacherous Kitselas Canyon, where the barges had to be pulled and pried through foot by foot, the party was met by local man Tom Hankin, who warned them that the tribe based at the Kitsequekla Canyon, whom he called "Sticks", were hostile, as their village had been accidentally burnt down by some white miners. Despite the warning, and the uneasiness of his crew of Coast natives, (who were not friendly with this particular tribe either), Moore armed everyone with musket
s and proceeded to the next canyon. As they navigated up the canyon, the Sticks threatened to fight unless Moore paid for his passage, but Moore refused, explaining that the goods were not his, and that the government would pay for the losses they incurred when their village was destroyed. The Sticks clearly did not think much of Moore's argument, but seeing that everyone was armed and knowing that three of their own chiefs were currently on the coast, they eventually allowed the flotilla
to pass. Once they arrived in Hazelton, John took the mules up the Babine trail while Moore, Billie, Henry and their crew returned down the Skeena to pick up another load. When they were floating past the Kitsequekla Canyon, shots were fired and one of the crewmen was wounded in the leg, while another bullet barely missed Moore. One of Moore's crew fired back, but most of their attention had to be kept on guiding the canoes and barges through the canyon, which they navigated without further incident. Upon their return at Port Essington, they learned that the government, having heard of burning of the Sticks village, had sent Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Trutch
in a gunboat
, HMS Scout. Trutch met with the chiefs and explained that the fire had been an accident and gave them $600 as compensation.
Moore made three more trips to Hazelton that summer and then he sent John up to the Nass River
with a team of pack mules, while he, Billy and Henry took the barges back to Port Essington and took the Minnie up the coast to the Nass, where they met with John again. The boys spent the winter 15 miles (24.1 km) south of Woodcock Landing in a cabin by what is now Moore's Cove. Moore himself returned to Victoria to be with his wife and daughters. But, by the next spring, Moore heard of yet another gold discovery and wrote the boys and told them to get ready to go to the Cassiar
.
and met Harry Thibert and his party, who were recovering 3 to 6 ounces of gold per day. Moore and his sons staked claims nearby and by September 18, they had recovered $5000 in gold. By then, there was snow on the ground and they went back to Victoria for the winter. Moore was not idle however; he convinced the government that a pack trail needed to be built between Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake. He was awarded the contract and in partnership with Victoria merchant, Morris Lenz, built the trail and operated a mule team over it.
By the fall of 1874, the Cassiar Gold Rush was in full swing, and Moore and his three sons had made an astounding $100,000 from their claims.
Moore wasted no time in investing the money and ordered a new sternwheeler, the Gertrude, which was launched at Victoria on March 22, 1875. Youngest son Bernard, (Ben), now ten, was considered old enough to join the rest of the men in the family on the northern rivers and worked on the Gertrude with his father and brother, Billie, while Henry and John worked at the placer mines.
That fall, Moore took the Gertrude back to his old stomping grounds on the Fraser River. Although his old rival, William Irving, had died in 1872, Irving's son John
, had taken over the family business, and was proving that he could admirably fill his father's shoes.
Moore ran the Gertrude against Irving's Royal City for a few weeks, creating a rate war that would lower fares to $1 between New Westminster and Yale. Seeing there was no money to be made that way, Moore laid the Gertrude up at Victoria and turned to other matters. He purchased an old British gunboat, the Grappler, five Victoria waterfront lots and one of John Irving's sternwheelers, the Glenora, with the understanding that Irving would stay away from the Stikine River.
During 1876, Moore's business flourished as the Grappler took miners and supplies from Victoria up the coast to Fort Wrangell, where they met the Gertrude, which Moore piloted, and the Glenora, which Billie piloted, taking the miners and supplies up the Stikine to Telegraph Creek. However, by the end of the season, the rush was nearing its end and Moore sold his claims to a syndicate of Chinese
miners and returned to Victoria.
to the Cariboo
in 1862. Now that there was competition in the Cassiar, his thoughts returned to the Fraser again and the idea of running against Irving on the route from New Westminster to Yale.
So, in 1879, Moore built another new sternwheeler, the Western Slope, which was launched at Victoria on May 8.
The old rivalry ran hot as Moore's and Irving's sternwheelers raced up and down the Fraser, competing for passengers. To compete with Moore, Irving built a new sternwheeler in 1881, the $80,000 Elizabeth J Irving, which on its second trip to Yale, raced Moore's Western Slope and, midway through the race, caught on fire and was soon reduced to a charred wreck, resulting in the deaths of four First Nations crewmen, two horses and two cows. The loss was a tremendous blow to John Irving, who had just allowed the vessel's insurance to expire a week earlier.
.
In 1882, Moore sold the Gertrude and built the Pacific Slope, but by the end of the year, he had fallen on hard times again and sold the Pacific Slope to Andrew Onderdonk
and declared bankruptcy again, losing not only his sternwheelers, but also his home and properties in Victoria. John Irving purchased the Western Slope at auction, and being a man of great honor, hired Billie to be her captain, Henry her mate and John her purser, thus helping his rival's family remain solvent. William Moore, now 60, was hardly ready to become an employee of his old rival's 28-year-old son, so he built another sternwheeler, the Teaser, which was eventually seized by creditors (despite Billie's attempt to hide her in Alaska), and sold and renamed the Rainbow.
Meanwhile, Moore built the Alaskan and took her up to the Stikine, which he now had to himself for the 1885 season of navigation. In 1886, Moore heard the call of gold again and went up to the Yukon River
. Henry was to meet him there, but was tragically murdered on Vancouver Island on his schooner along with three companions. He left behind a wife and four children.
By 1887, Moore joined the government survey party headed by William Ogilvie
and showed them how to build and navigate a barge up the Yukon River. Once the party got to the Chilkoot Pass, Moore heard tales of another route to the Yukon and, with Skookum Jim, started up the Skagway River and went over the 45 miles (72.4 km) long pass, meeting up with the Oglivie party at Bennett Lake. When Oglivie heard of this new route, he named it White Pass, after Thomas White
, the Minister of the Interior.
Moore then told Ogilvie of his belief that the Yukon Valley would be the site of the next gold rush and that the White Pass would be a major route to it.
by canoe. When they passed what would later be named Skagway, Moore noted that it would be a good place for a wharf. Loading up with supplies in Juneau, they swiftly returned through the Lynn Canal
to Skagway Bay where Moore preempted 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) at the mouth of the Skagway River at a place the Indians called Skagua, and named it Mooresville. He built a log cabin, a sawmill, and began the construction of a wharf in anticipation of the ships that would land there, offloading thousands of eager gold-seekers.
He and Ben returned to Victoria in that winter where Moore wrote several letters to Ottawa
, telling of the Yukon's great potential and the need for a wagon road over the White Pass. His letters were ignored. Undaunted, as always, Moore returned to his property every summer and freighted through the Lynn Canal with his new sternwheeler, another Flying Dutchman. In 1891, he asked the United States Secretary of the Interior
for a contract to build a road through the White Pass, and again, his request was ignored.
In 1896, when Moore was 74, he won the mail contract to deliver the mail on the 600 miles (965.6 km) long route from Juneau to Forty Mile, Yukon.
On one mail trip he met George Carmack
, who had just staked a claim on a small creek named Rabbit Creek, soon to be Bonanza Creek
, just off of the Klondike River
. Moore's prediction was about to come true.
was born and became a boomtown overnight. Originally the Indians called it Skagua, Moore renamed it Mooresville and the stampeders took over and named it Skaguay, later spelled Skagway. What Moore did not anticipate was the lack of concern for his legal rights in ownership of the land Skagway sat upon. The residents and stampeders that made up the population pushed Moore aside and took over ownership of his land. When streets were surveyed it was found that Moore's home stood directly in its path. Moore put up a fight but in the end his home was uprooted and moved to another location. Moore brought suit against the claim jumpers who remained in town after the rush and, in 1901, won a 25% reimbursement.
In 1900, Moore would make one final prospecting trip, this time to Nome, Alaska
, however, he soon returned to Skagway and built a house on Skagway Bay. On top of the house he built a room fashioned in the style of a pilot-house where he could look out at the ships in the bay. He died nine years later, in Victoria on 29 March 1909 at the venerable age of 87.
Miner
A miner is a person whose work or business is to extract ore or minerals from the earth. Mining is one of the most dangerous trades in the world. In some countries miners lack social guarantees and in case of injury may be left to cope without assistance....
and explorer 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...
and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. During most of British Columbia's gold rushes
British Columbia Gold Rushes
The presence of gold in the region that is now British Columbia is mentioned in old legends that, in part, led to its discovery. The Strait of Anian, claimed to have been sailed by Juan de Fuca for whom today's Strait of Juan de Fuca is named, was described as passing through a land "rich in gold,...
(from the Queen Charlottes in 1852 until the Cassiar Gold Rush in 1872) Moore could be found at the center of activity, either providing transportation to the miners, working claims or delivering mail and supplies.
In 1887, guided by First Nation's explorer Skookum Jim (who later co-discovered the Klondike Goldfields), William Moore was guided through the White Pass
White Pass
White Pass is a mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the border of the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, Canada...
route that would become a famous route to the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
and purchased the land that later became the famous gold rush town of Skagway. Throughout his 87 years, he would father four sons and three daughters and make and lose at least three separate fortunes. His friends and rivals would give him many nicknames, among them, William "Buddy" Moore and "The Flying Dutchman".
Early years
William Moore was born in Hanover, Germany on 30 March 1822. By the age of seven, he was sailing on schooners on the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and by age 24, his adventures brought him to New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
New Orleans and San Francisco
In New Orleans, William Moore married Hendrika in 1846 and worked on riverboatRiverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
s on the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. In 1848, he served in the Mexican-American War aboard the USS Lawrence
USS Lawrence
Five United States Navy ships have borne the name USS Lawrence in honor of James Lawrence. was a brig which acted as Commodore Oliver Perry's flagship during the first part of the Battle of Lake Erie until she became unmanageable in that action....
. That same year, he became a citizen of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and his eldest son, John (JW), was born. In 1851, he moved his family to San Francisco, but arrived too late to participate in the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
.
Queen Charlotte Islands and Peru
In 1852, William Moore and his family left San Francisco on the brigBrig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Tepic for the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
where gold had been discovered on Moresby Island
Moresby Island
Moresby Island is a large island that forms part of the Haida Gwaii archipelago in British Columbia, Canada, located at . Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site includes Moresby and other islands...
.
After a month of fruitless prospecting, the Moores returned to San Francisco. Not one to sit for long, William became intrigued by the wealth of the Incas and he packed up his wife and son and embarked to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, where he purchased a schooner and traded up and down the Peruvian coast. In 1854, his second son, William D. Moore (Billie), was born at Callao
Callao
Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
. However, Hendrika was frightened by the ongoing revolutions in Peru, and they returned to San Francisco in 1856. Moore purchased property on Goat Island
Yerba Buena Island
Yerba Buena Island sits in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland, California. The Yerba Buena Tunnel runs through its center and connects the western and eastern spans of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It has had several other names over the decades: Sea Bird Island, Wood...
and raised goats. Also in 1856, his third child, daughter Henrietta, was born.
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
In 1858, William Moore heard the news of the gold discoveries on the Fraser RiverFraser 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. He immediately sold his Goat Island property, packed up his livestock (mostly goats) and family onto his schooner and embarked for Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, where he would build the family home and have a fourth child, son Henry. Upon his arrival, Moore built a 15 ton barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
named Blue Bird. As 30,000 gold-seekers poured into what would soon be the Colony of British Columbia
Colony of British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day Canadian province of British Columbia, since it did not include the Colony of Vancouver Island, the vast and still largely...
, Moore made his first fortune, not in mining, but in providing transportation for the miners and delivering their supplies up the Fraser River to Fort Hope
Hope, British Columbia
Hope is a district municipality located at the confluence of the Fraser and Coquihalla rivers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Hope is at the eastern end of both the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland region, and is at the southern end of the Fraser Canyon...
. In 1859, he replaced the cumbersome barge with a 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...
named the Henrietta, built by James Trahey at Victoria and launched in October. To pilot her, Moore hired Captain John Deighton
John Deighton
John Deighton , generally known as "Gassy Jack", was a Canadian bar owner who was born in Hull, England. The Gastown neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia is named for him....
, also known as "Gassy Jack", who would later be renowned as the first resident of Granville, which would become Vancouver.
The Henrietta navigated the Fraser River to Yale
Yale, British Columbia
Yale is an unincorporated town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was founded in 1848 by the Hudson's Bay Company as Fort Yale by Ovid Allard, the appointed manager of the new post, who named it after his superior, James Murray Yale, then Chief Factor of the Columbia District...
in February 1860, but Moore soon replaced her with a new and more powerful sternwheeler, the Flying Dutchman
Flying Dutchman (steamship)
The Flying Dutchman was a 19th century steamship in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. It was the first steamboat to enter the Stikine River, in 1862, and the first vessel to take a cargo of lumber from Burrard Inlet , in August 1863, under Captain William Moore....
, which was launched in Victoria that September. She operated on the Harrison Lake
Harrison Lake
Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres in area. It is about 60 km in length and at its widest almost 9 km across. Its southern end, at the resort community of Harrison Hot Springs, is c. 95 km east of...
route between "Harrisonmouth" (since named Harrison Mills) and Port Douglas
Port Douglas, British Columbia
Port Douglas, sometimes referred to simply as Douglas, is a remote community in British Columbia, Canada at the head of Harrison Lake, which is the head of river navigation from the Strait of Georgia...
.
New Westminster soon had an opportunity to be grateful to Captain Moore, when the bitterly cold winter of 1861-62 froze the Fraser River from Lulu Island
Lulu Island
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River. The island makes up most of the City of Richmond, a major suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia...
to Hope and isolated New Westminster from December until March 12, when Moore used the Flying Dutchman paddlewheel first and spent three days smashing a passage through the ice so supplies could be delivered to the little community.
Nevertheless, that spring the competition on the Fraser River resulted in rate wars between Moore and his main rival, Captain William Irving
William Irving (steamship captain)
William Irving was a steamship captain and entrepreneur in Oregon, U.S. and British Columbia, Canada.The Irvington neighborhood in Portland, Oregon is named in his honor and in New Westminster, British Columbia his home, "Irving House", is now a heritage site.He was one of the earliest pioneers of...
, so Moore began looking for greener pastures and soon found one on the Stikine River
Stikine River
The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States...
, which he was the first to navigate by sternwheeler.
Stikine Gold Rush
In 1862, when Moore learned of the gold discovery on the Stikine River, he built another barge, the JW Moore and packed the Flying Dutchman with 60 passengers and towed the barge 300 perilous miles up the coast to Fort Wrangell which lay at the entrance to the Stikine River. Undeterred by the Stikine's reputation for being a dangerous river, Moore took the Flying Dutchman, with the JW Moore in tow, up to Buck's Bar without incident, making the 140 miles (225.3 km) journey in only three days. Having a monopolyMonopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on the Stikine, Moore charged $100 a ton for freight, and $20 fare per man, plus a 5 cent per pound baggage fee. Meals and berths were extra. During the 1862 season, he made a profit of $20,000. He returned to Victoria that fall and met his fifth child, daughter Wilhemina.
Moore intended for her to run from Victoria to Yale, connecting with the Flying Dutchman on Harrison Lake, but the Alexandra proved to be too big and expensive to operate and only made a few trips on that route. Moore suffered additional financial hardship as rate wars raged between him and his rival, William Irving, driving steamer fares down to as low as 25 cents for the trip between New Westminster and Yale. The rivalry involved Victoria and New Westminster as well, as Moore was from the former and Irving from the latter. The rivalry between the towns reached new heights when insults were traded in the local papers, with New Westminster saying that Victoria was "built on a frogpond" and Victoria retorting that New Westminster was "a pimple on the face of creation".
By 1865, Moore had lost the Flying Dutchman and the Alexandra and declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Moore was not out of business for long, however, and soon purchased another sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
and moved his family and their goats to New Westminster, where Hendrika had their sixth child, son Bernard. Moore then purchased the barge Lady of the Lake, equipped it with sails and renamed it Marcella and ran it from New Westminster through Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
to Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
.
Big Bend Gold Rush
Early in 1866, Moore learned of the gold discoveries at Big Bend and put in a tender for the contract to run steamer service from SavonaSavona, British Columbia
Savona is a small community located at the west end of Kamloops Lake, where the Thompson River exits it. It is approximately halfway between Kamloops and Cache Creek along the Trans-Canada Highway...
on Kamloops Lake
Kamloops Lake
Kamloops Lake in British Columbia, Canada is situated on the Thompson River just west of Kamloops. The lake is 1.6 km wide, 29 km long, and up to 152 m deep...
to Seymour City (Seymour Arm
Seymour Arm, British Columbia
Seymour Arm, known historically also as Ogdensville or Ogden City and Seymour, is an unincorporated area and former town located at the head of the inlet of the same name on Shuswap Lake in British Columbia, Canada...
) on Shuswap Lake
Shuswap Lake
Shuswap Lake is a lake located in south-central British Columbia, Canada that drains via the Little River into Little Shuswap Lake. Little Shuswap Lake is the source of the South Thompson River, a branch of the Thompson River, a tributary of the Fraser River...
, but his rival, Captain Irving, won the contract. Moore decided to purchase another barge and ran it on that route with his eldest son, John. The Big Bend Gold Rush ended shortly afterwards, and Moore purchased land in Kamloops and his family, with their omnipresent goats, joined him there, ironically making part of the trip on Captain Irving's sternwheeler, Onward.
Cariboo Gold Rush
Later in that spring of 1866, Moore had already had enough of farming and moved his family up to Barkerville, where he worked as a miner until 1869, when he learned of yet another new gold discovery, this time in the Omineca CountryOmineca Country
The Omineca Country, also called the Omineca District or the Omineca, is a historical geographic region of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, roughly defined by the basin of the Omineca River but including areas to the south which allowed access to the region during the Omineca Gold Rush of...
.
Omineca Gold Rush
In 1869, Moore moved his family and goats to QuesnelQuesnel, 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....
and built another barge. In the spring of 1870, the barge was completed and Hendrika took the youngest children to Victoria, while eldest sons John and Billie stayed behind. Billie would work for a merchant in Quesnel, while John accompanied his father on the barge. It was loaded with supplies and hauled 230 miles (370.1 km) up north via the Fraser, Nechako
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...
, and Stuart
Stuart River
The Stuart River is a river in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The river flows over from Stuart Lake to its junction with the Nechako River. The river drains a portion of the Nechako Plateau — a gently-rolling region characterized by small lakes and tributaries...
Rivers and through Stuart Lake
Stuart Lake
Stuart Lake, or Nak'albun in the Carrier language is a lake situated in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The town of Fort St. James is situated by the lake near the outlet...
onto Tachie River to Trembleur Lake to Middle River
Middle River (British Columbia)
The Middle River, or in the Carrier language Dzitl'ainli Koh, is a river in the Omineca Country of the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, flowing southeast from the outlet of Takla Lake into Trembleur Lake over a distance of approximately 35 km...
, finally arriving at 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...
where Takla Landing
Takla Landing
Takla Landing, also known as McLaing Landing is an unincorporated locality and former steamboat landing on the east side of Takla Lake in the Omineca Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada...
led to the trails to the Omineca diggings.
After delivering the supplies, Moore and John began prospecting, but had no luck, and come winter, they left the barge on Takla Lake and took the Babine trail to Hazelton
Hazelton, British Columbia
Hazelton is a small town located at the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1866 and has a population of 293...
, canoeing down the Skeena River
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...
to the coast, where they took the steamship Otter back to Victoria.
In the spring of 1871, Moore built another schooner, the Minnie, and loaded her with more supplies for the Omineca district and went up the coast, accompanied by his sons, John and Henry, a crew of thirty men, and a herd of mules. But even an experienced riverboat captain like Moore could not ascend the entire length of the perilous and swift Skeena River with a loaded barge. Facing starvation, his crew left, and Moore and his sons had to drive the mules the remaining 90 miles (144.8 km) to Hazelton on foot. Taking the Babine trail back to Takla, they were joined by Billie, and the four Moores ran the barge and the pack mules for the Omineca miners for the rest of that season.
They returned to Victoria that fall and embarked to Omenica again in the spring of 1872, with a contract from the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
to freight supplies up the Skeena to Hazelton. At Port Essington
Port Essington
Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory...
, Moore built two more barges and two large canoes, and hired 24 First Nations men of the Haida, Tongass and Tsimpsean tribes: 12 to crew the barges and 12 more to man the canoes. William captained the first barge, John, the second, while Bille and Henry each captained a canoe. After navigating through the treacherous Kitselas Canyon, where the barges had to be pulled and pried through foot by foot, the party was met by local man Tom Hankin, who warned them that the tribe based at the Kitsequekla Canyon, whom he called "Sticks", were hostile, as their village had been accidentally burnt down by some white miners. Despite the warning, and the uneasiness of his crew of Coast natives, (who were not friendly with this particular tribe either), Moore armed everyone with musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s and proceeded to the next canyon. As they navigated up the canyon, the Sticks threatened to fight unless Moore paid for his passage, but Moore refused, explaining that the goods were not his, and that the government would pay for the losses they incurred when their village was destroyed. The Sticks clearly did not think much of Moore's argument, but seeing that everyone was armed and knowing that three of their own chiefs were currently on the coast, they eventually allowed the flotilla
Flotilla
A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...
to pass. Once they arrived in Hazelton, John took the mules up the Babine trail while Moore, Billie, Henry and their crew returned down the Skeena to pick up another load. When they were floating past the Kitsequekla Canyon, shots were fired and one of the crewmen was wounded in the leg, while another bullet barely missed Moore. One of Moore's crew fired back, but most of their attention had to be kept on guiding the canoes and barges through the canyon, which they navigated without further incident. Upon their return at Port Essington, they learned that the government, having heard of burning of the Sticks village, had sent Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Trutch
Joseph Trutch
Sir Joseph William Trutch, KCMG was an English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician.-Early life and career:...
in a gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
, HMS Scout. Trutch met with the chiefs and explained that the fire had been an accident and gave them $600 as compensation.
Moore made three more trips to Hazelton that summer and then he sent John up to the Nass River
Nass River
The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance...
with a team of pack mules, while he, Billy and Henry took the barges back to Port Essington and took the Minnie up the coast to the Nass, where they met with John again. The boys spent the winter 15 miles (24.1 km) south of Woodcock Landing in a cabin by what is now Moore's Cove. Moore himself returned to Victoria to be with his wife and daughters. But, by the next spring, Moore heard of yet another gold discovery and wrote the boys and told them to get ready to go to the Cassiar
Cassiar, British Columbia
Cassiar is a ghost town in British Columbia, Canada. It was a small company-owned asbestos mining town located in the Cassiar Mountains of Northern British Columbia north of Dease Lake. After forty years of operation, starting in 1952, the mine was unexpectedly forced to close in 1992...
.
Cassiar Gold Rush
In April 1873, Moore met his three sons at Port Essington, where they loaded the Minnie and a barge up with supplies and took them 200 miles (321.9 km) north up to Fort Wrangell and then 75 miles (120.7 km) up the Stikine River, leaving the Minnie onshore. There they were joined by six prospectors and two First Nations guides, who all boarded the barge and with much towing, rowing and sailing, the group covered the last 75 miles (120.7 km) to Telegraph Creek. Once there, they all continued on foot, carrying their supplies in heavy backpacks through swamps and streams for 28 days until they reached the diggings on Dease Lake. Moore and his son's continued packing supplies into the area until they came across Thibert CreekThibert Creek
Thibert Creek is a creek located in the Cassiar Country region of British Columbia. The is creek flows into Dease Lake at the north end. Thibert Creek lies on the western side of Dease Lake. The creek was discovered in April, 1873 by Henry Thibert and several French Canadians. Thibert was the...
and met Harry Thibert and his party, who were recovering 3 to 6 ounces of gold per day. Moore and his sons staked claims nearby and by September 18, they had recovered $5000 in gold. By then, there was snow on the ground and they went back to Victoria for the winter. Moore was not idle however; he convinced the government that a pack trail needed to be built between Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake. He was awarded the contract and in partnership with Victoria merchant, Morris Lenz, built the trail and operated a mule team over it.
By the fall of 1874, the Cassiar Gold Rush was in full swing, and Moore and his three sons had made an astounding $100,000 from their claims.
Moore wasted no time in investing the money and ordered a new sternwheeler, the Gertrude, which was launched at Victoria on March 22, 1875. Youngest son Bernard, (Ben), now ten, was considered old enough to join the rest of the men in the family on the northern rivers and worked on the Gertrude with his father and brother, Billie, while Henry and John worked at the placer mines.
John Irving (steamship captain)
John Irving was a steamship captain in British Columbia, Canada. He began on the Fraser River at the age of 18 and would become one of the most famous and prosperous riverboat captains of the era...
, had taken over the family business, and was proving that he could admirably fill his father's shoes.
Moore ran the Gertrude against Irving's Royal City for a few weeks, creating a rate war that would lower fares to $1 between New Westminster and Yale. Seeing there was no money to be made that way, Moore laid the Gertrude up at Victoria and turned to other matters. He purchased an old British gunboat, the Grappler, five Victoria waterfront lots and one of John Irving's sternwheelers, the Glenora, with the understanding that Irving would stay away from the Stikine River.
During 1876, Moore's business flourished as the Grappler took miners and supplies from Victoria up the coast to Fort Wrangell, where they met the Gertrude, which Moore piloted, and the Glenora, which Billie piloted, taking the miners and supplies up the Stikine to Telegraph Creek. However, by the end of the season, the rush was nearing its end and Moore sold his claims to a syndicate of Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
miners and returned to Victoria.
Revisit to Fraser River
In 1877, Moore returned yet again to the Fraser River and ran the Gertrude against John Irving's Reliance, but in 1878 he returned to the Stikine in time to fight off more new competition there, the Nellie owned by John Calbreath, the packer and storekeeper who'd been responsible for bringing the infamous Cariboo camelsCariboo camels
The saga of the Cariboo camels is one of the most interesting pages in the history of British Columbia. The Bactrian camels were used on the Douglas Road and the Old Cariboo Road in 1862 and 1863 to haul freight during the Cariboo Gold Rush...
to the Cariboo
Cariboo
The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the woodland caribou that were once abundant in the region...
in 1862. Now that there was competition in the Cassiar, his thoughts returned to the Fraser again and the idea of running against Irving on the route from New Westminster to Yale.
The old rivalry ran hot as Moore's and Irving's sternwheelers raced up and down the Fraser, competing for passengers. To compete with Moore, Irving built a new sternwheeler in 1881, the $80,000 Elizabeth J Irving, which on its second trip to Yale, raced Moore's Western Slope and, midway through the race, caught on fire and was soon reduced to a charred wreck, resulting in the deaths of four First Nations crewmen, two horses and two cows. The loss was a tremendous blow to John Irving, who had just allowed the vessel's insurance to expire a week earlier.
In 1882, Moore sold the Gertrude and built the Pacific Slope, but by the end of the year, he had fallen on hard times again and sold the Pacific Slope to Andrew Onderdonk
Andrew Onderdonk
Andrew Onderdonk was a construction contractor who worked on several major projects including the San Francisco seawall in California and the Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia. He was born on August 30, 1848 in New York to an established Dutch family. He received his education at the...
and declared bankruptcy again, losing not only his sternwheelers, but also his home and properties in Victoria. John Irving purchased the Western Slope at auction, and being a man of great honor, hired Billie to be her captain, Henry her mate and John her purser, thus helping his rival's family remain solvent. William Moore, now 60, was hardly ready to become an employee of his old rival's 28-year-old son, so he built another sternwheeler, the Teaser, which was eventually seized by creditors (despite Billie's attempt to hide her in Alaska), and sold and renamed the Rainbow.
Meanwhile, Moore built the Alaskan and took her up to the Stikine, which he now had to himself for the 1885 season of navigation. In 1886, Moore heard the call of gold again and went up to the 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...
. Henry was to meet him there, but was tragically murdered on Vancouver Island on his schooner along with three companions. He left behind a wife and four children.
By 1887, Moore joined the government survey party headed by William Ogilvie
William Ogilvie
William Ogilvie may refer to:*William Ogilvie of Pittensear , Scottish land reformer and ‘rebel professor'*William Ogilvie , Canadian surveyor*William Ogilvie , tutor to Lord Edward FitzGerald...
and showed them how to build and navigate a barge up the Yukon River. Once the party got to the Chilkoot Pass, Moore heard tales of another route to the Yukon and, with Skookum Jim, started up the Skagway River and went over the 45 miles (72.4 km) long pass, meeting up with the Oglivie party at Bennett Lake. When Oglivie heard of this new route, he named it White Pass, after Thomas White
Thomas White (Canadian politician)
Thomas White, was a Canadian journalist and politician.He was born in Montreal, Lower Canada in 1830, the son of Thomas White, a leather merchant who came to Canada from Ireland in 1826. White worked at a number of jobs before entering the printing trade with the Queen's Printer in Toronto around...
, the Minister of the Interior.
Moore then told Ogilvie of his belief that the Yukon Valley would be the site of the next gold rush and that the White Pass would be a major route to it.
Alaska
By the fall of 1887, after traveling through the White Pass to Lake Bennett, Moore somehow knew that gold would soon be discovered in the Yukon and wasted no time in preparing for the day his prediction would come to pass. With his son, Ben, Moore struck out for Juneau, AlaskaJuneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
by canoe. When they passed what would later be named Skagway, Moore noted that it would be a good place for a wharf. Loading up with supplies in Juneau, they swiftly returned through the Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal
Lynn Canal is an inlet into the mainland of southeast Alaska.Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage...
to Skagway Bay where Moore preempted 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) at the mouth of the Skagway River at a place the Indians called Skagua, and named it Mooresville. He built a log cabin, a sawmill, and began the construction of a wharf in anticipation of the ships that would land there, offloading thousands of eager gold-seekers.
He and Ben returned to Victoria in that winter where Moore wrote several letters to Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, telling of the Yukon's great potential and the need for a wagon road over the White Pass. His letters were ignored. Undaunted, as always, Moore returned to his property every summer and freighted through the Lynn Canal with his new sternwheeler, another Flying Dutchman. In 1891, he asked the United States Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
for a contract to build a road through the White Pass, and again, his request was ignored.
In 1896, when Moore was 74, he won the mail contract to deliver the mail on the 600 miles (965.6 km) long route from Juneau to Forty Mile, Yukon.
On one mail trip he met George Carmack
George Carmack
George Washington Carmack was a Contra Costa County, California-born prospector in the Yukon. He was originally credited with the discovery of gold that set off the Klondike Gold Rush on August 16, 1896...
, who had just staked a claim on a small creek named Rabbit Creek, soon to be Bonanza Creek
Bonanza Creek
Bonanza Creek is a watercourse in Yukon Territory, Canada. It runs for about from King Solomon's Dome to the Klondike River. In the last years of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Bonanza Creek was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush, which attracted tens of thousands of prospectors to...
, just off of the Klondike River
Klondike River
The Klondike River is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River has its source in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City....
. Moore's prediction was about to come true.
Klondike Gold Rush
On July 29, 1897, the mail steamer Queen would be the first of the gold rush flotilla to dock at Moore's wharf in Skagway Bay, followed by John Irving's Islander and the collier Willamette. Skagway, AlaskaSkagway, Alaska
Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. It was formerly a city first incorporated in 1900 that was re-incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862...
was born and became a boomtown overnight. Originally the Indians called it Skagua, Moore renamed it Mooresville and the stampeders took over and named it Skaguay, later spelled Skagway. What Moore did not anticipate was the lack of concern for his legal rights in ownership of the land Skagway sat upon. The residents and stampeders that made up the population pushed Moore aside and took over ownership of his land. When streets were surveyed it was found that Moore's home stood directly in its path. Moore put up a fight but in the end his home was uprooted and moved to another location. Moore brought suit against the claim jumpers who remained in town after the rush and, in 1901, won a 25% reimbursement.
In 1900, Moore would make one final prospecting trip, this time to Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
, however, he soon returned to Skagway and built a house on Skagway Bay. On top of the house he built a room fashioned in the style of a pilot-house where he could look out at the ships in the bay. He died nine years later, in Victoria on 29 March 1909 at the venerable age of 87.