Skuzzy (sternwheeler)

The Skuzzy sternwheeler was built by Canadian Pacific Railway contractor Andrew Onderdonk at Spuzzum, British Columbia, and was launched on the Fraser River on May 4 1882."Skuzzy" was the first sternwheeler to ever navigate the perilous rapids north of Yale in the Fraser Canyon.

Andrew Onderdonk held the contract to build the 29 1/2 mile section of railway from Boston Bar to Lytton. It was a contract worth $2,573,640. He built the "Skuzzy" with the intention of moving railway supplies by steamer to the camps north of Yale via the Fraser River instead of using pack trains on the Cariboo Road. A ship would save him $10 per ton in road tolls alone.

After she was built, Ausbury Insley piloted the ship up river on May 17, 1882. Captain Insley was able to guide the "Skuzzy" upstream through the whirlpools and rapids and under the Alexandra Bridge which had been built by the Royal Engineers in 1863, but when Insley got the "Skuzzy" to the entrance of the Hell's Gate Canyon he could take her no further. The Fraser was at it highest point in forty years, and passage was impossible.

Onderdunk brought in a captain and engineer from Oregon. Under their command, on September 7, the "Skuzzy" again attempted the rapids at Hell's Gate and once again failed. Onderdonk then had ringbolts drilled into the canyon's walls, and he stationed 125 Chinese railway employees above. Observers were betting on the success of the journey, and odds were 100:1 against. [cite web|last=Virtual Museum|title=Colorful Characters of Historic Yale|url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm.php?id=story_line&fl=&lg=English&ex=00000150&sl=5046&pos=15|access date= 2007-07-04]

Finally, with the aid of her steam capstan winching in the cable and 125 men pulling at her tow rope, the "Skuzzy" made it through Hell's Gate. It took 16 days to make the 16 mile trip to Boston Bar. The "Skuzzy" became the first sternwheeler to arrive in Lytton. [cite web| last =Botanie Creek| title =Lytton Newsletter| url =http://www.botaniecreek.com/museum/pdfs/Newsletter_4-3.pdf| accessdate = 2007-07-04]

Notes

Further reading

* cite book
last=Downs
first=Art
title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1
year=1971
publisher=Foremost Publishing
isbn=0888260334

External links

* cite web
last =Botanie Creek
title =Lytton Newsletter
url =http://www.botaniecreek.com/museum/pdfs/Newsletter_4-3.pdf
accessdate = 2007-07-04
* cite web
last=Virtual Museum
title=Colourful Characters of Historic Yale
url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm.php?id=story_line&fl=&lg=English&ex=00000150&sl=5046&pos=15
accessdate= 2007-07-04
* cite web
last=Trentu
title=Towards the Last Spike
url=http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/pratt/poems/texts/188/188annotated.html
accessdate= 2007-07-04