a | CENTENNIAL EDITION THE WILLIAMS iene my Transport in the stagecoach and Pack train, = tended 167 miles from Ashcro: from there to Quesnel freight 5 carried by stern-wheelers up t! The first of these stern- wheelers built on the Upper years, Prise. This pioneer steamboat Was built at Four Mile Creek, near Fort Alexandria, and was completed in the spring of 1863. She was a small boat, 110 feet long by 20 feet beam, and in 1871, the year of the Omineca gold excitement, she was taken by her owners through the Cottonwood and Fort George Canyons to Fort gated up the Nechako and - Stuart Rivers and was event- ually abandoned at Tatla » Romantic era of _ On Fraser River ended in Cariboo was not confined to Soda The Cariboo road ex- Cache. ft to Soda Creek, and The steamer Charlotte was and passengers were the only boat on the water un- he broad Fraser. without steamer service for 10 In the spring of 1896 Fraser was named the Enter- the North British Columbia ad Navigation Company was for- med and plans made for con- struction of a boat at Quesnel. This steamer, the Charlotte, A second was launched in 1896. of a bill to Fort George. } George. She was then navi- was increased j - steamboating Creek and Tete. Jaune til 1909, when the Nechaco was launched. This boat was later re-named the Chilco. She became the first boat to navi- » gate the Grand Canyon, a fear- some place about 104 miles above Fort George and the Principal menace to navigation to the headwaters of the river. steamer launched that year was the Quesnel. Following the announcement During the winter season ot in 1903 by Sir Wilfred Laurier , 1908-09, the Dominion Gov ern- incorporate the Ment engineers supervised the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, TeMoval of the large rock in 2 sreat boom developed around the channel of Cottonwood Asa result there Canyon, and boats plyed safely interest in between Soda Creek and Fort on the Upper George after that. Fraser, including plans being “ QUEEN OF THE NORTH" f Landing. made by the B.C. Express Com- The B.C. Express Company iz Pany to enter the field. had not been idle, and after ' The owners of the Enter- Between the projection of careful planning on the type of i Prise built a new steamer at the railway in 1903 and its boat required, construction was i Quesnel in 1868. This boat, completion ¢ Finest boat on the Fraser was the B.C. Express Company’s “BX,” launched at Soda Creek on May 13, 1910. So popular did this boat become that she was referred to up and down the The above picture shows the launching of the Nechaco on May 25, 1909, at Quesnel. The Nechaco was later reg- istered as the Chilco. The same year “ QUEEN OF THE NORTH” LAUNCHING OF THE NECHACO in 1914, no less undertaken at Soda Creek. the Victoria, went into service than nine stern-wheelers were On May 13, 1910, the BX in 1869 and served until 1836. built to navigate the upper quietly slipped from the ways The Upper Fraser was to be reaches of the Fraser between to begin her years of service river as the “Queen of the North.” Overall leagth of the boat was 150 ft. She was built at a cost of about $55,000.00. it was launched, the Nechaco became the first boat to navigate the dreaded “Grand Canyon” on the Fraser above Fort George. Captain Foster handled most of the river’s famous steamers One of the best-known skippers of the famous worked as mail carrier between paddle-steamers which operated north from Soda here and the Chilcotin. Creek to Prince George from the early gold-rush In 1933 he retired to his ntil the vi the railroad w: ranch at Cinema and eventually y: i advent of the ra d was Donald 7 t y gays i ne ap’? Foster. His daughter, Mrs. Jessie moved into Quesnel where he r Pigeon, is government agent at Williams Lake. passed away in 1 Captain Foster was born in with the Royal Bagineers and the Euphrates during the war, returning to age of 22, and later took his continue as a river captain. inland waterways ticket. He The “ Quesnel” was the last spent a short time at the coast of the stern-wheelers to operate when he first came to B.C., and on the river and on the first then moved to the Cariboo in trip under Captain Foster, the 1898, where he assumed com- vessel was wrecked in Prince England, but raised in Nova Scotia, where he master mariner’s ticket at the mand of the river steamer George Canyon when it was “Charlotte,” operating from jmpossible to raise sufficient Soda Creek to Quesnel. steam to get steerage against During the next 25 years he the swirling current. Though became a familiar figure along the “ Quesnel” was a complete the river as he served as loss when it broke In two on such well-known the canyon rocks, the entire master of paddle wheelers as the “BC cargo was saved. ; Express,” the “ Rounder,” the With the close of the river “Circle W,” the “Chilcotin” boating, Captain Foster be- and finally the “ Quesnel.” came a mail carrier when he In 1902 he married Jean secured a contract to carry the il by tween Quesnel @ Soda Creek, who mail by road be sreleceese George. After predeceased him in 1938. and Prince gained his launches on Mrs. Jean nm, Donald, Another daught Watson, and his s live at Quesnel. ‘A veteran of World War I, eight years on that route, he The late D. A. (Cap) he held the rank of lieutenant moved to Williams Lake and Foster 1 stern-wheelers 1920 on the river. The boat proved herself to be the most success- ful on the river, and earned her unofficial name ‘ Queen of the North.” The BX was a luxury boat. She had stateroom accommoda- tion for 70 passengers and was licensed to carry a further 60 deck passengers. Her dining room would seat 50 persons and ship’s dishes and crockery in the staterooms bore the monogram “BX” and were specially made in England. Her steam-heated staterooms were supplied with comfortable mat- tresses and springs and the linen and blankets were of the finest quality, Staterooms and a ‘special ladies’ cabin were carpeted in red velvet. The ship had a light draught of 16 inches at the bow and 20 inches aft at the deepest point. The express company built a sister ship of the BX, the “ BC Express,” which was launched in 1912. END NEAR As a profitable business, steamboating on the Fraser began to fail in 1914. Cars were operating on the roads. Work had ceased on the PGH line at Fort George. The exodus of people from that area | was accelerating. Population in the whole Cariboo was dras- tically reduced and all busi- ness prospects were uncertain. By 1915 the BX was operat- ing a regular semi-weekly service between Soda Creek and Fort George, with the BC Ex- press being used for relief Tuns. The Quesnel was in operation for a short period at the first of the season. During - 1916 ‘and 1917, none of the stern-wheelers was in opera- tion. Early in 1918 the Quesnel Board of Trade appealed to the Provincial government to sub- sidize the BC Express Company in order to resume service on the river. An annual subsi of $10,000 resulted and service resumed in May, 1918, and— continued until the end of the 1920 season, Twu metals figure prominently -in the. history of Williams Lake. Gold spawned the Cariboo centre, and long after the hopes and ambitions of its first settlers were nothing but faint memories, the coming of steel opened another chapter in its story. In the That year the BX and the BC Express were hauled out of the fiver at South Fort George They were dismantled and their | hulls lett to rot. Captain D. A. Foster, vete- ran skipper, made one yain upper Picture is shown one of the old. attempt to prove steamboating coaches on the Pacific Great Eastern was still practical on the river. Railway. Drafty, creaking relics with Late in April, 1921, in partner- ship with W. H. Matheson, he launched the Quesnel, but her career was short-lived for three weeks later she was wrecked. Dot-bellied coal stoves at one end to keep the winter cold away, it was equipment like this that lead to the line being dubbed with such nicknames as “Please go easy.” In the lower picture is shown one of the modern diesel en- gines pulling. into Williams Lak An era of river navigation had come to an end. P.G.E. took 40 years to reach Prince George N 0 P LACE COMPLETE The Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the line that was going to open an inland empire, started out in 1912 with seven miles of track, and took 40 years to reach its original goal at Prince George. And during those 40 years, ern extension, linking Squam- some of the province's bitterest ish with North Vancouver, was political battles centred around completed. this “ poor man’s railroad.” Final expansion move on the Real estate up and down the line was the extension from Proposed route commanded Prince George to Fort St. John, fancy prices, some of the lots Which was completed last fall. on land that is still in its wild The PGE today extends for state today, and some on steep 750 miles from its North Van- creek and river banks that will couver terminus. Fully diesel- never be utilized. ized, the railway’s new rolling The first trackage was laid Stock makes it the most mod- down by the Howe Sound, ¢ equipped operation for its Pemberton Valley and Northern ie in North America. Railway in 1910, and was used The “Please Go Easy” has as a starter by Foley, Welch Come into its own. and Stewart, who formed the original PGE company. This firm was eventually taken over First car by the provincial government py 1921 haa ON the road in 1918, and by The first automobile to ar- linked Quesnel with Squamish rive in the Cariboo country was shipped by rail to Ash- croft in June, 1907, and driven up the Cariboo Road to the Bullion Mine and retura. The greater part of the “ in- land empire” was now served by the railroad, but since Squamish never became the deep sea port that early dreams thy Gay a fourveylinder WITHOUT A VARIETY STORE i the PGE was the peerless, was owned by 0. S. i i railroad that ‘started no- Perry, an official in charge of In the old days, every store that opened was virtually a variety store. Food, where and ended nowher the Guggenheim interests, then clothes, hardware, everything, in fact, that made life possible was available Antiquated rolling stock and a Operating the Bullion ed, isolated st ervic ighborly . 7 at the scattered, isolated stores. Service that was neighborl The successful automobile but far from efficient earne _ trip made by Perry was an en- Today, every small town and village has its variety store—a miniature won- the line such medial couragement to others. In the derland where you can casually shop around and make a multitude of pur- Please Go Easy. Spring of 1908, a group of citi-|] chases whether your purse is full.or contains just a few cents. 5 Work on extending’ the line zens, calling i themselves. the did not start again until 1949. Cariboo . Automobile Company, when the 80-mile jump from doughy 40 - horsepower 9 e Quesnel to Prince George WAS Rambler ang advertised a undertaken. This lime Was schegujeg trip from Ashcroft completed in 1952 and freight to goq, Creek in 14 hours. On and traific started to Fol iN its second trip the car broke January, 1953. down near the 141 Mile House In August, 1956, the south- and the venture ended.