S.S. CALEDONIA

Built:  1890 in New Westminster by Alex Watson Jr.
Registration #:  97162

CALEDONIA near Fort Simpson
Image Courtesy of BC Archives - Detail of Call #C-03884

Rebuilt in 1895 to:

Hull length:  100.0 feet  (exclusive of sternwheel)        132.0 feet
Hull width:  25.4 feet                                                       24.0 feet
Hull depth:  4.7 feet                                                         4.7 feet
Gross weight:  n/a                                                            354.0 tons
Registered weight:  n/a                                                   223.0 tons

Engines:  1891 Albion Iron Works, two horizontal high pressure cylinders 16" wide x 72" long

In the spring of 1890, the Hudson's Bay Company built the CALEDONIA and under Captain Odin's command, navigated the Skeena as far as Kitselas Canyon.  As the water was rising fast (the Skeena was known to rise up 17 feet in one day!), he decided not to proceed any further.  He sent for his son, also a captain, and when the high water subsided, they struggled their way up to Hazelton.  Although that trip was enough for the senior captain, the younger captain made one more trip up to Hazelton that year and then also resigned.

The Hudson's Bay Company then hired Captain Troupe, and later Captain Bonser became the CALEDONIA's skipper.  Captain Bonser was said to be one of the most skillful skippers on the Skeena River.  After one year in command, he said the CALEDONIA was more than powerful enough, but recommended the vessel be lengthened in order to handle the swift water and tight turns better.  That winter she was hauled out at Port Essington, sawed in half and had thirty feet added to her hull and cabin.  The following year she returned to the Skeena and proved her worth.  The CALEDONIA remained the only sternwheeler on the Skeena, making three to four trips a year to Hazelton and two trips up the Stikine, until 1898.

In 1898, the Hudson's Bay Company built a larger hull and transferred the machinery from the original CALEDONIA to the new vessel, the CALEDONIA #107145.

This digital collection was produced under contract to the
   SchoolNet Digital Collections program, Industry Canada. Revised:  02/15/99