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A wide variety of vessels have seen duty on the Slave River during the last 250 years.
The first type of watercraft used on the river by the local aboriginal inhabitants were
hand-crafted canoes made from a variety of materials but primarily birchbark. In later
years, as freight volumes increased, an assortment of specialized water vessels made their
way North. Included here are pictures and descriptions of some of the larger, more
prominent vessels that were used. Please note that the "thumbnail" pictures
of the boats can be clicked upon for a larger viewing image.
Contained here are pictures and text digitized from the book "On the
Banks of the Slave - A history of the community of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories"
Copyright Canada 1974 by Department of Education, Government of the Northwest Territories.
 S.S.
Distributor on the Slave River, NWT 1941.Built in 1920, this
sternwheeler displaced 875 tonnes with a total length of 200 feet. The Distributor was
ideally suited to navigation on the Mackenzie and Slave rivers drawing only four feet of
water. The high superstructure housed two single cylinder steam engines, cabins, saloons,
and on a third deck , the wheelhouse and chart room. The combination of shallow draft and
large top hamper meant that navigation of open water was restricted to periods of dead
calm. The Distributor's crew of 32 was kept busy moving cargo on the ship itself and
pushing or pulling freight laden scows in several configurations. 1924 saw the ship sold
by its original owner Lamson and Hubbard to the Hudson's Bay Company and in subsequent
years the HBC employed the Distributor extensively running from the foot of the rapids at
Fort Smith northwards to Aklavik on the Mackenzie River delta. A typical voyage along this
2100 km route could be expected to last about 33 days.
This boat is a stern wheeler of 875 tons,and is about 200 feet long.It has a
draught of only 4 feet,and carried a crew of 32. The tubular boiler is supported on the
flat bottom of the boat and the 2 single-cylinder engines on the ordinary deck level.There
are passenger cabins with 2 saloons on the upper deck, an officer's desk above that and a
chart room still higher. Hence there is a lot of top hamper which favours drifting and
this determines the navigation in lakes and oceans.This boat is unable to cross
wide-open spaces of water unless the weather is dead calm, frequently we were held up one
or two days until the very obvious winds had completely died down. Four or five scows were
lashed ahead of the flat fronted steamer with steel cables,and pushed ahead in deep water
of the river.But in case of the rapids,which partially blocked navigation in three or four
places below Fort Smith, it could only take one scow forward at a time.This explains why
it took thirty-three days to travel 1,300 miles on an average speed of
about forty-three in twenty-four hours. |
 S.S. Athabasca River
was a famous sight between Fort Fitzgerald and Fort McMurray. It takes a staff of twenty
to operate a ship like this. If there were no problems that stopped them they could
make the trip in two days. |
 The Radium King was
built in Quebec and assembled in Fort Smith. It was designed to haul ore from the mine at
Great Bear Lake but was later remodeled and then used for pushing barges across the Great
Slave Lake. It retired in 1967 and is now a favourite museum piece at the Northern Life
Museum located in Fort Smith. |
 St. Ann being towed
over the portage by one of the "lintz" tractors. |
 Pelican Rapid was a
Hudson's Bay Company ship loading in Fort Smith, 1950. |
 S.S. Mackenzie in
dry dock. The large boat in the water is the Mission boat, St. Marie,
built in 1907 in Fort Smith. In 1914 it was sold to Northland Traders. The large scows in
the foreground probably belonged to trappers who used them on their travel down river.
When they arrived at their destination the scow and used the lumber for building purposes.
The R.C. Mission house in Fort Smith, just south of the Cathedral, was built
partially from lumber obtained in this manner. |
 M.S. Pelican Rapids
beginning its portage at Fort Fitzgerald on the way to Fort Smith some fourteen miles
downriver. The ship was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. |
 Moving a scow over the portage past
what is now the old mission house just south of the cathedral in Fort Smith. |
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