1

The Steamboat Era

By the early 1870s the York boat was replaced by large, Mississippi-style paddlewheel steamboats as the main mode of transportation on the Saskatchewan River. The paddlewheelers were faster, considerably larger, and more economical to operate than the York boat.

The Pas was an important fuelling spot and stopover for vessels plying the Saskatchewan River from Grand Rapids to Cumberland House and beyond to as far as Fort Edmonton. During this period the shoreline of the river at The Pas was packed with docks, warehouses and boats, and bustled with commercial activity throughout the open water season.

2

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

3

Dredger and sternwheel paddleboat at docks on Pasquia River.
1930
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

4

A steamboat is beside a scow loading supplies and cattle.
1915
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

5

A variety of boats plied the Saskatchewan River during the steamboat era. The first steamboats were those owned by or hauling for the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Ross Navigation Company was the largest maritime enterprise in The Pas. Some of the vessels built by Captain Horatio Ross included The Pas, the Brisbin, the Notin, the Tobin, and the Nipawin.

The Finger Lumber Company and then its successor The Pas Lumber Company also had a fleet of river steamers, including the sidewheeler C.R. Smith, and sternwheelers The Jack Winton, and later, the 120-foot David N. Winton. The David N. Winton was the last steamboat to ply the waters of the Saskatchewan River in the area of The Pas, being sunk by the action of river ice in 1954.

6

S.S. Nipawin of Kenora riverboat on the Saskatchewan River.
1928
Saskatchewan River, Canada

7

Sternwheeler S.S. Alice Mattes with its woodpile and wheelhouse.
1920
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

8

Captain Wilson on the Ross Navigation Company's 'Brisbin'.
1930
unknown location

9

Riverboat travel was rife with challenge for the boat captains and their crews. The major rapids at Grand Rapids, where the Saskatchewan River tumbles 24 metres in 5 kilometres as it empties into Lake Winnipeg, required a rail portage, over which freight and passengers were transferred from a lake boat to a riverboat for the upriver trip.

At many other locations the boats had to ascend smaller rapids using a technique called "warping". Two spars were set in the river bottom and inclined to the bow. A tackle block was attached to each spar with a hawser (cable) that ran to a capstan and the close gunwale. With the engine running, the capstan was turned and the boat was literally lifted over the obstacle in successive "hops".

10

Malcolm McLeod at the wheel of sternwheeler David N. Winton.
1937
unknown location

11

Sandbars presented another obstacle to riverboat navigation. Like all rivers flowing through the plains region of Canada, the Saskatchewan contains low volumes of water. Even with their shallow drafts, the steamboats often grounded on sandbars that were hidden in the silty waters and difficult to avoid because of their shifting locations from one year to the next.

12

Price bulletin from the Great West Wine Company.
1916
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada

13

Steamboats were utilized for a wide range of water transport activities. Captain Horatio Ross used steam-driven paddlewheelers in his company, Ross Navigation, to haul freight and to entertain guests on pleasure 'cruises'. During Prohibition Captain Ross and a number of The Pas' prominent citizens formed 'The Cult of Omar', the purpose of which was to access alcoholic beverages - banned under Prohibition except if consumed for religious ceremonies.

14

Ross, Captain Horatio Hamilton
1925
The Pas, Manitoba, Canada