Forty-Nine (steamboat)

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Leonard White, captain of the Forty-Nine

The Forty-Nine was a steamboat built in 1865 at Marcus, Washington Terr., just above Kettle Falls on the Columbia River to carry travellers and freight north up the Columbia River and the Arrow Lakes to the Big Bend Gold Rush in the Colony of British Columbia. The destination of its run was the boomtown of La Porte, one of the main centres of the rush, which was located at the foot of the Dalles des Morts or "Death Rapids", the head of river navigation on the route and which were located in the immediate vicinity of the goldfields, which were on the nearby Goldstream River and Downie Creek. The Forty-Nine was the first chartered vessel to serve on this portion of the Columbia.

The first attempted run, with Captain Leonard White at the helm^[1], was in December of 1865 but failed to reach La Porte due to heavy ice in the Narrows between the Arrow Lakes (normally a strong, rapids-like current), and the first successful runs were not until the spring of 1866. When the gold rush ended, Forty-Nine was withdrawn for lack of clientele, and Captain White gave free passage out of the Big Bend area for those who could not afford passage. His last soutbound run carried only three passengers.^[1]^[2]^[3]

In 1871 the Forty-Nine was brought back into service for the Canadian Pacific Railway survey undertaken by Walter Moberly.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Steamships of the Columbia article in Trails in Time website by Walter Volovsek
^ Mills, Randall V., Sternwheelers up Columbia, page 86, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 1947 ISBN 0-8032-5874-7
^ Turner, Robert D., Sternwheelers and Steam Tugs, page 1, Sono Nis Press, Victoria, BC 1984 ISBN 0-919203-15-9

[edit] See also

Steamboats of the Arrow Lakes

v • d • e Steamboats of the Arrow Lakes

Steamboats and tugs	*Forty-Nine* (1865) • Kootenai (1885) • Dispatch / Despatch (1888) • Lytton (1890) • Columbia (1891 sternwheeler) • Illecillewaet (1892) • Nakusp (1895) • Trail (1890) • Columbia (1896 tug) • Kootenay (1897) • Rossland (1897) • Minto (1898) • Whatsan (1909) • Bonnington (1911) • Nipigonian (1929) • Widget (1948)

Landings (south to north)	Marcus WA • Northport WA • Ft. Colville WA • Trail • Castlegar • Robson • Edgewood • Needles • Fauquier • Burton • Graham Landing • Nakusp • Arrowhead • Galena Bay • Comaplix • Beaton • Halcyon Hot Springs • St. Leon Hot Springs • Revelstoke • Downie Creek • La Porte

Steamboat Lines	Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company • Canadian Pacific Railway Lake and River Service

Geographic Features	Dalles des Morts • Kootenay River • Kootenay Lake • Arrow Lakes

Owners, captains and personnel	James W. Troup • Gustavus Blin-Wright • J.A. Mara • Frank Barnard Jr.

Modern ferry lines	BC Ministry of Transportation (Department of Highways)

Railway connections	Columbia and Kootenay Railway • Nakusp and Slocan Railway • Canadian Pacific Railway (mainline) • Kettle Valley Railway

Steamboats in other areas of British Columbia	Upper Fraser, Nechako and Stuart Rivers • Skeena River • Arrow Lakes and Columbia River • Slocan Lake • Kootenay Lake • Columbia Lake-East Kootenay • Lakes Route (Seton, Anderson and Lillooet Lakes) • Lake Okanagan • Skaha Lake • Thompson-Shuswap • Stikine River • Peace & Finlay Rivers • Steamboats of the Inside Passage • Gulf of Georgia-Lower Fraser

Steamboats in other areas of the Pacific Northwest	Columbia River • Oregon Coast • Willamette River • Yaquina Bay and River • Coquille River • Cowlitz River • Puget Sound • Lake Washington • Grays Harbor • Chehalis River • Hoquiam River • Willapa Bay • Columbia River (Wenatchee Reach) • Lake Crescent • Lower Kootenai River • Upper Kootenai River