Lytton (sternwheeler) - Operations - First Voyage Down The River and The Lakes

First Voyage Down The River and The Lakes

Capt. Frank Odlin took Lytton out of Revelstoke for her first commercial trip in early July 1890. Lytton was not a large or luxurious vessel even compared to other steamboats of the time. However, for Revelstoke, Lytton, the first significant steam vessel built in the town, was big news. Historian Downs, relying on accounts of the day described Lytton's departure on her first voyage, leaving Revelstoke:

The downriver voyage began on July 2, 1890 at the dock near where the new large bridge of the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the Columbia River. Lytton then steamed over to the Revelstoke smelter dock, where 65 tons of steel rails, fishplates and other track building supplies were loaded on board.

The destination for these rail supplies, which must have been brought in by the Canadian National Railway, was far down the lakes at Sproats Landing, BC, where the Kootenay River joins the Columbia. The Kootenay River connected to the Nelson Arm of Kootenay Lake. The Kootenay river could not be navigated from the Columbia through to the Nelson Arm, as it was blocked by Bonnington Falls. In place of steamboat navigation, in the early 1890s a railroad, the Columbia and Kootenay was being built along the Kootenay River from Sproats Landing on the Columbia eastward to Nelson on Kootenay Lake.

Once the rail supplies were loaded, the trip down the Columbia and the lakes began on July 3, 1890 at 11:30 a.m., as crowds cheered on the dock and the nearby steamer Kootenai. Three of the principals of the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation had supplied most of the money for the construction of the Lytton and two of them, J.A. Mara and Frank Barnard were on board for the steamer's first trip.

Revelstoke was 28 miles (45 km) up the Columbia River from the head of the upper Arrow Lake. On her first trip, Lytton took three hours to cover this distance, reaching the upper lake at 2:30 in the afternoon of July 3. This was still considered good time, as the steamer had encountered mechanical problems on the way down, forcing the vessel to stop. This was not surprising for a first run, and her actual steaming speed while underway had been 14 miles (23 km) an hour, which was helped by the swift flowing current in the river, ranging between 3 and 7 miles per hour.

Upper Arrow Lake opened up wide and deep after the Columbia River, and Lytton traversed the entire lake by 6:30 p.m. on the evening of July 3. After this point came the Narrows, a 16-mile (26 km) stretch of shallow water which lay between the upper and lower Arrow Lakes. After a stop for fuel (called "wooding up"), Lytton passed through the Narrows, reaching the head of the lower lake at 8:10 p.m. The vessel continued steaming down the lake into the night, reaching Sproat's Landing five and one-half hours later. Lytton's actual steaming time subtracting delays was 12.33 miles per hour, and was considered good speed. On the return trip up the river and the lakes, Lytton covered the entire 150 miles (240 km) back to Revelstoke in 13.75 hours, for an average speed of 11 miles per hour up river, also considered good.