First steamboat built in Manitoba

My father, Captain Peter McArthur, came to Fort Garry in 1869. In the following year he was taking out logs at Broken Head River. He told me he supplied the flagstaff for Upper Fort Garry – 14 inches at the butt and 4 inches at the top. I forget the height.

He built the Prince Rupert in the 1870s at Fort Garry. It ran on the Assiniboine to Portage la Prairie and sometimes farther. He did not think much of this vessel. It rode like a bucking pony, but had the distinction, nonetheless, of being the first steamboat built in Manitoba. I gave the registration papers to the Manitoba Museum.

Mary Agnes Medd, “My Father’s Steamboats” (Manitoba Pageant 17:1, Autumn 1971)

This entry was posted in Blog. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Bruce Wishart
Whimsies. Sometimes about writing.
Sometimes about folklore. Sometimes
about the sea, or life on the coast.
And sometimes not.