22

David N. Winton passing through the railway bridge on the Saskatchewan River.
1940
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

23

Steamboats at The Pas Docks at the mouth of the Pasquia River.
1920
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

24

Steamboats were used to transport passengers as well as payloads of freight. On the larger steamboats, passengers had a choice of seating, either in cabin or on deck. The cabin was only affordable to the more affluent passengers - a more upscale mode of passage that was priced out of the reach for the average passenger.

Meals were charged in addition to passage, and passengers on deck had to provide their own bedding. Each passenger was given a 100-pound allowance for baggage. In the event of a boat accident or serious grounding, passengers were required to make the remainder of the voyage at their own expense.

25

S.S. King George V moored for the winter below the railway bridge at The Pas.
1917
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

26

Steamboats were used up until the 1930s as links to the outlying regions, and into the 1950s on the log drives. However, with the coming of the railways to the Canadian prairies, the era of overland transport began and foretold of the demise of these long distance freight haulers. The glorious days of river transport were at an end - closing an era when the Saskatchewan River of western Canada was the primary artery through which flowed the lifeblood of a young nation.

27

Nipawin docked in The Pas.
1925
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

28

Sternwheelers David N. Winton and Alice Mattes moored side by side near Devon Park.
1930
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

29

Fate of the first steamboat

The first steamboat on the Saskatchewan River was built and launched upstream from Grand Rapids in 1873. The boat was to carry the Hudson's Bay Company's fall outfit to the western and northern posts. Such was the rush to get the boat into service and move trade goods and supplies inland that the ship sailed unchristened and without ceremony on August 2. Anyone familiar with maritime superstition would have predicted that she would come to a bad end.

On August 5 the boat grounded on a rocky shoal in the Demi-Charge Rapids, a mere 13 miles from her launch point. The wood of the hull was green and soft, and her cargo was heavy. A portion of her hull was crushed as she settled on the rocks.

Cargo salvage operations were undertaken and much of the dry goods and hardware were saved. The dry goods included the yearly dressmaking requirements for all of the Aboriginal women from The Pas to Hudson Hope. The bolts of cloth were spread out to dry on the bushes and trees on a nearby island, and to this day it is known as Calico Island.

30

The Northcote was one of the most renowned steamboats that plied the Saskatchewan River. Built in 1874 above Grand Rapids, the boat was 150 feet from bow to stern, 4.5 feet deep, with a beam of 28.5 feet. Launched on August 1, the Northcote was the first steamboat to ever reach The Pas. In his journal, the Reverend Henry Budd noted the steamboat's arrival with enthusiasm:

"August 26, 1874 - The long expected steamer North-Cote [sic] came puffing up in sight. They blew the whistle so loud they made the very cattle rear up their heels, and took to full gallop with their tails up in the air in full speed to the woods. But, not only the cattle but the people of all ages and sexes were no less excited at the sight of the boat, the first boat of the kind to be seen by them all their life; in fact, the first steam boat going in this river since the Creation."

31

The Reader Family
1910
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

32

Mr. Northcote Reader

In 1880, two of the passengers on the Northcote's downriver trip from Prince Albert were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Reader, missionaries heading for a new posting at The Pas. On July 31, a son was born to the Readers on board near Cumberland House. He was fittingly christened Northcote Reader. Probably the only baby ever to be born on a Saskatchewan River sternwheeler, Northcote Reader lived for many years in The Pas region, and a number of his descendants live in the area to this day.

33

Watercolour picture in frame made from wood trim from the 'Northcote' (from the Reader family).
1900
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

34

An exciting chapter in the life of the Northcote occurred in 1885 when she served as a gunboat for the Canadian militia at the Battle of Batoche on the North Saskatchewan River during the Riel Rebellion. During the battle it was found that the half-inch wood of the superstructure did not stop bullets and extra planking, mattresses, and a scrounged billiard table on edge were used to shield soldiers and crew on board. Her two smokestacks were ripped off by a ferry cable during the engagement.

During the low-water year of 1886, the veteran Northcote, drawing more water than the newer steamboats, was unable to pass over many of the shoals in the Cumberland Lake area. She was beached at Cumberland House, never to sail again. She slowly disintegrated over the years until nothing but her boilers remained.

35

With the construction of railroads across the prairies in the late 1800s, and to The Pas in 1908, the era of large-scale steamboat transportation drew to a close. Paddlewheelers did continue to ply the lower Saskatchewan River for the next 40 years however, as workhorses barging logs and ore during the industrialization of the region.