The Sternwheeler Stories
With such a thing as travel on a treacherous river, such as the Skeena, there happened some incidents that are above and beyond the regular stories. We read about where they went, how they moved, what they carried, etcetera. But, here we have listed some of the more interesting stories. Personal rivalries, accidents, treasure stories:
Rivalry: SS Hazelton and the SS Mount Royal
One of the more interesting stories is of the rivalry between the HBC's operations and Cunningham's operations. Not only were the companies themselves fierce competitors, but the captains of the Mount Royal (HBC) and the Hazelton (Cunningham) took the concept of rivalry to new levels.
Cunningham had the Hazelton built in 1901. To compete with the newer and faster design, the Hudson's Bay company had the Mount Royal built. The captains of each vessel went to great lengths to outdo one another with no thought to passenger safety or fuel consumption. The fuel comsumption got to a point where the Hazelton and Mount Royal were burning, for one return trip, the same amount of cord wood for their competitors to make 2 trips from Port Essington to Hazelton and back.
The captains were obssessed with speed. The Hazelton made it's run in 2 days, 7 hours, and 55 minutes. Two days later the Mount Royal did it in 2 days, 6 hours and 15 minutes. Four days after that the Hazelton, not to be outdone and once and for all winning the time race between the two, did the return trip in 47 hours.
Later this same year, the Mount Royal's captain tried to crowd the Hazelton into shallow water. The Hazelton then did a turn and ran the Mount Royal aground. It was said that Captain Johnson of the Mount Royal was so angry that he shot at the captain of the Hazelton. There was a marine enquiry, at Captain Johnson's request, and this put an end to the dangerous aspects of the rivalry between the two boats.
The Wreck of the Mount Royal
July 6, 1907,
The Mount Royal was pushed by the wind into what became known later as Ringbolt Island in Kitselas Canyon. Captain Johnson and his officers made the decision to abandon ship and all of the passengers and crew managed to walk ashore except for 8 people. With water pouring over the decks, the boat listed and fell over on her downriver side. The rushing waters of Kitselas Canyon ripped her deck housings and wheel off. Somehow, 2 of those 8 people that didn't make it ashore, the Chief Engineer and his assistant, managed to survive inside the tumbling hull until it ran aground, upside down on a sand bar accross from Kitselas. They were later discovered, banging on the inside when rescuers were searching the debris for people.
The fist that was known of the accident was when wreckage and debris (which was visible for several hours afterward all the way downriver to Little Canyon) began to be seen by residents of Kitselas. Captain Johnson and his officers were absolved of any wrongdoing in the ensuing marine enquiry. As a result of this accident, ringbolts were installed at Kitselas Canyon to give the boats some measure of stability coming up through the rapids.
Treasure in Kitselas Canyon!
It was said that when the Mount Royal rolled in the water at Kitselas Canyon, her safe went flying through the air and landed somewhere in the water. The safe was missing, and it has never been recovered. For years there were stories of all the riches, including gold and jewelry, that was, even now, lying at the bottom of the Skeena for anyone to find.
Fairly recent searching in archival records has shown that no money was being transported and none of the passengers were using the safe to store any of their personal belongings. In all liklihood, the safe actually contained very little.