Robert C Hammond (sternwheeler)

The Robert C Hammond sternwheeler was the last sternwheeler built for service on the upper Fraser and Nechako Rivers. She was owned by the Fort George Lake and River Transportation Company a partnership of George Hammond and his brother. She was launched at the Central Fort George town-site of Fort George on May 22nd, 1913. She was built so that George Hammond, the promoter of Central Fort George, could claim that his community had steamer service. [cite book |last=West |first=Willis|title=Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC|year=1985|publisher=Heritage House|isbn=0-919214-68-1|pages=66] Central Fort George was on the Nechako River and the large sternwheelers owned by the BC Express Company, despite a $50 per trip inducement, could rarely call there, as there was often sandbars unless the water was very high. [cite book |last=Downs |first=Art |title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1|year=1971|publisher=Foremost Publishing|isbn=0888260334|pages=54,55] And, of course, the rival sternwheelers of the South Fort George town-site owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company weren't interested in helping George Hammond promote Central. In 1913, the "Robert C Hammond" made several trips on the Nechako as well as working on the route from Soda Creek to Fort George. For one auspicious moment in her short career, she was going to be a Royal Mail Steamer for the newly formed Imperial Express Company which had been formed by Mayor JT Robinson of Kamloops and JC Shields of Vancouver, which had managed to win the government mail contract from the BC Express Company. However, Imperial Express found themselves ill-prepared to meet this challenge and the BC Express Company consented to carry the mail for them for $500 a week. [cite book|first=Willis|last=West|title=The BX and the Rush to Fort George|year=1949|publisher=British Columbia Historical Quarterly|pages=220,221] The "Robert C Hammond" continued its service until September 1914 when the depressed economic conditions caused by the Great War and the halt on the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway caused her owners to decide to retire her.

ee also

* Steamboats of the Upper Fraser River in British Columbia
* List of ships in British Columbia

References

* cite book
last=Downs
first=Art
title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1
year=1971
publisher=Foremost Publishing
isbn=0888260334
* cite book
last=West
first=Willis
title=Stagecoach and Sternwheel Days in the Cariboo and Central BC
year=1985
publisher=Heritage House
isbn=0-919214-68-1
* cite book
first=Willis
last=West
title=The BX and the Rush to Fort George
year=1949
publisher=British Columbia Historical Quarterly

Notes