Why
So Many Wrecks?
The West Kootenays District is dominated by the
Monashee, Selkirk and Purcell mountain ranges running north-south.
In the valleys between these ranges are swift flowing rivers and
large, steep sided lakes of up to 130 km in length. East-west travel
in this region to this day consists of winding through high mountain
passes and crossing large bodies of water, and the natural routes
for travel are along north-south fjords.
As the region developed during the
mining booms of the 1880’s and 1890’s, it soon became
apparent that building railroads along the steep sides of
the major lakes was more costly than building sternwheelers
and steamtugs, and moving the trains across the lakes. Trout,
Slocan, the Arrow and Kootenay Lakes soon large fleets of
vessels and large transfer terminals to handle the demand.
Some sternwheelers, notably the Nasookin and Bonnington,
were 61m in length and measured
1700 gross tons. The fleets prospered until 1930 when the
Depression, new roads and the completion of major rail links
began to eliminate the water routes one by one.
Beginning in 1930 with the completion of the Kootenay
Landing to Procter rail link on Kootenay Lake, the fleets were gradually
retired. Many vessels were stripped and sank during periods of neglect
while tied up in shallow water. Some were used as floating hotels
and hunting wharves. By 1956 the last sternwheeler, the Moyie,
was placed in permanent drydock at Kaslo, B.C. to become a national
historic site.
No systematic survey of the many wrecks was completed
until the initiation of this project in 1990, during the search
for the sternwheeler City of Ainsworth. A joint venture between
the UASBC and the local SCUBA club, located this vessel in 110 m
of water.
