S.S. MONTE CRISTO

Built:  1891 in Ballard, Washington
Registration #:  107824
Hull length:  90.2 feet  (exclusive of sternwheel)
Hull width:  24.1 feet
Hull depth:  3.0 feet     

Rebuilt in 1899 to:
Hull length:  108.6 feet
Hull width:  20.4 feet
Hull depth:  3.9 feet

MONTE CRISTO on the Skeena River
Image Courtesy of BC Archives - Detail of Call #B-05853

Gross weight:  187.77 tons, 266.00 tons (after 1899)
Registered weight:  126.08 tons, 155.00 tons (after 1899)

Engines:  Moran Brothers in Seattle, two horizontal high pressure cylinders 10" wide x 48" long, rated at 10 NHP

The MONTE CRISTO was brought from the Snohomish River trade in 1898 to work the Stikine River.  She was rebuilt in 1899 and brought to the Skeena River in 1900 by Robert Cunningham & Son where she became the first major competitor of Hudson's Bay Company in Skeena River steamboating. 

Under Captain Bonser's command, who left the Hudson's Bay Company to work for Robert Cunningham, she only made a couple of trips up the Skeena just to carry Cunningham's freight to Hazelton.  Later, she was chartered by the Dominion Government for service on the Stikine River, laying the Yukon Telegraph Line.  She was abandoned in 1903 at Port Essington and her machinery was sold for junk.

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