J.D. Farrell (sternwheeler)

J.D. Farrell circa 1900, in winter storage at Jennings, Montana, with North Star in background on left
History
Name:	J.D. Farrell (US #77280
Owner:	Kootenay River Navigation Co., A. Guthrie & Co.
Route:	Kootenay River in Montana and British Columbia
Launched:	1897, at Jennings, Montana
Out of service:	1899-1901
Fate:	Dismantled 1903, engines and other components to sternwheeler Spokane operating on the Pend Oreille River.
Notes:	Wrecked June 4, 1898, raised and returned to service.
General characteristics
Type:	inland passenger/freighter
Tonnage:	359 gross tons; 226 registered tons
Length:	130 ft (40 m)
Beam:	26 ft (8 m)
Depth:	4.5 ft (1 m) depth of hold
Installed power:	twin steam engines, horizontally mounted
Propulsion:	sternwheel

J.D. Farrell was a sternwheel steamer that operated on the Kootenay River in western Montana and southeastern British Columbia from 1898 to 1902.

J.D. Farrell was designed and built by Captain M.L. McCormack, who had commanded steamboats on the Mississippi, St. Croix and Red rivers. He formed the Kootenay River Navigation Company to build and operate the vessel, which he named after J.D. Farrell, a wealthy mining backer from Spokane, Washington. Farrell was equipped with electric lights and bathrooms, then considered innovations in river transport in the region. In contrast to some of the other vessels built in the region, Farrell was competently designed and constructed by skilled shipbuilders brought out from Stillwater, Minnesota.

J.D. Farrell was launched in November 1897 at Jennings, Montana. At that time the only competitor on this route was the Upper Columbia Navigation & Tramway Company, under Capt. Frank P. Armstrong. Construction of Farrell prompted Armstrong to hire veteran shipwright Louis Pacquet from Portland, Oregon to build a comparable vessel, the sternwheeler North Star.

Captain M.L. McCormack commanded Farrell on the vessel's first trip up the Kootenay River to Fort Steele, BC. Farrell worked on the route from Jennings to Fort Steele during 1898. During 1898, Captain Armstrong and Captain McCormack combined their efforts on the upper Kootenay, with the Armstrong boats North Star and Gwendoline receiving 60% of the freight receipts, with the balance to McCormack's single boat Farrell. James D. Miller (1830–1914), one of the Northwest's most experienced steamboat captains, commanded Farrell during this time.