On Oct. 22, 1898 the Canadian Pacific Railway launched the SS Moyie on Kootenay Lake, one of a fleet of boats that provided vital transportation links in the days before roads.
Now 125 years later, the boat is Kaslo’s best-known attraction, a dryland museum that gives visitors a vivid glimpse of what life used to be like.
On Sunday, the Kootenay Lake Historical Society will mark the occasion with a gala dinner at the Royal Canadian Legion.
Secretary Elizabeth Scarlett says it’s the culmination of a year’s worth of activities leading up to the anniversary.
Robert Turner, curator emeritus with the Royal BC Museum, who has been the ship’s historian since 1988, will give a talk entitled “Old Boats Reveal Their Secrets Slowly.”
They will also acknowledge anyone who worked on the Moyie‘s restoration in the 1990s and more recently as well as anyone who rode the boat before it was retired in 1957.
While there are fewer and fewer who fall into the latter category, Scarlett said one woman who will be at the dinner used to travel on the ship every Saturday. Her mother lived in Lardeau but she was in school in Kaslo.
“She said she enjoyed standing by the paddlewheel. In the latter days, there was no cover over it she liked to get the spray coming off on a hot summer day.”
That the Moyie outlasted every other sternwheeler that plied the lakes of the Kootenays is due to a couple of factors, Scarlett said.
Most boats had a lifespan of about 25 years because they were made entirely of wood.
But the Moyie has a steel-wood composite hull, which meant she was more durable. It also allowed her to come up on the shore to unload passengers and freight.
When the CPR finally took the boat out of service, it was purchased by the then-City of Kaslo for $1 and turned into a museum. The Moyie has now been out of service longer than it was in service. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that a full-fledged restoration began.
Scarlett said the boat is a “great draw” and gets visitors from all over the world. Just this summer, people from the United States, Europe, and New Zealand climbed on board.
“Lots of visitors come to see the ship because she’s unique,” Scarlett said. “She is the oldest intact passenger sternwheeler in the world.”
However, with that title comes the responsibility of looking after it, which is no small feat for a small community. But Scarlett said they’ve had strong support over the years from the federal government, Columbia Basin Trust, Village of Kaslo, and Regional District of Central Kootenay to ensure the boat is maintained for future generations.
Tickets for the dinner are still available for $75 from the Kaslo Visitor Centre, Sunnyside Naturals, and Willow Home. You can also email [email protected] if you would like to go.