Enterprise (1862)
Enterprise at Soda Creek in 1868
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| History | |
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 Colony of British Columbia
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| Name: | Enterprise |
| Builder: | James Trahey |
| Laid down: | 1862 |
| Launched: | May 9, 1863 |
| In service: | 1863-1871 |
| Fate: | Abandoned on Trembleur Lake |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 110 ft (33.5 m) |
| Beam: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) sternwheel |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Notes: | Captain JW Doane |
The Enterprise was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. It was built at Four Mile Creek near Alexandria by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin-Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1863. Her captain was JW Doane. The Enterprise was the first of twelve sternwheelers that would work on this section of the Fraser from 1863 to 1921. Though she wasn’t large, she was a wonderful example of the early craft of shipbuilding. All of the lumber she was built from was cut by hand and her boiler and engines had been brought to the building site at Four Mile packed by mule via the wagon road from Port Douglas, 300 miles away.
The Fraser River was not considered navigable by sternwheeler between Yale and Soda Creek due to many hazardous canyons and rapids, so the terminus of river navigation on the upper Fraser River was located at Soda Creek. From there a steamer could travel with no obstructions to Quesnel where a stage road ran to Barkerville. The stages of Barnard's Express would travel on the Cariboo Road up from Yale and connect with the Enterprise at Soda Creek. Passengers and freight would then be transferred onto the sternwheeler and travel upriver 56 miles to Quesnel. Once there they would be transferred to company stages again to Barkerville for the last 54 miles. The Enterprise made this trip three times a week, from May to October, for eight years. In October 1863 she carried two Englishmen, Viscount Milton and Dr. Walter Butler Cheadle who would later write fondly of the experience, “Given use of captain’s cabin, cigars and books. Fetched out every few minutes to have a drink with someone... Cocktails every five minutes and champagne lunch afterward.”.
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