Moyie (sternwheeler)
SS Moyie in 1898
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| History | |
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 Canada
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| Name: | Moyie |
| Launched: | October 22, 1898 |
| In service: | 1898-1957 |
| Fate: | Restored and made a National Historic Site |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 161.7 ft (49.3 m) |
| Beam: | 30.1 ft (9.2 m) |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Official name | S.S. Moyie National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 1958 |
The Moyie is a paddle steamer sternwheeler that worked on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada from 1898 until 1957.
After her nearly sixty years of service, she was sold to the town of Kaslo and restored. Today she is a National Historic Site of Canada and the world's oldest intact passenger sternwheeler.
The Moyie was built in prefabricated sections in Toronto, Ontario and was originally intended for service on the Stikine River as part of an "all Canadian" water and rail route to the goldfields during the Klondike Gold Rush. However, when the project failed for the lack of a railway, the Moyie and her sister ship, the Minto were put into service on Arrow Lakes and Kootenay Lake in the Kootenays of southern British Columbia.
She was launched and christened at Nelson on October 22, 1898 and embarked on her maiden voyage on December 7, connecting with a new line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which ran from Lethbridge, Alberta and through the Crowsnest Pass to Nelson. The Moyie soon became a favourite with passengers, featuring a large and elegantly appointed dining saloon, a luxurious smoking lounge, private ladies' saloon and comfortable overnight cabins, all richly decorated in gold leaf.
As the major vessel on Kootenay Lake, she was dubbed the "Crow Boat" and was the queen of the lake during the boom years of the early 1900s when the population of the Kootenays was expanding and there was increased demand for passenger and freight services. During this period, the Moyie was joined by many other large and luxurious sternwheelers, among them the CPR's Kuskanook, which arrived in 1906 and the Bonnington, launched in 1911. These large and richly appointed vessels were part of the CPR's plan to develop the area into a major tourism center and the railway also built a grand resort hotel in the town of Balfour. However, the onset of World War I put an end to many of the CPR's grand dreams for the West Kootenays and one by one, the other sternwheelers were taken off of the route and the hotel at Balfour was closed.
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