Marion (sternwheeler) - Transfer To Arrow Lakes

Transfer To Arrow Lakes

In 1889, Armstrong had Marion shipped by rail on two flat cars to Revelstoke, British Columbia, an important junction where the transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific Railway made one of its two crossings of the Columbia River. From Revelstoke, a steamboat could navigate south down the Columbia River to the Arrow Lakes and on the lakes proceed far to the south, near the international border, where spectacular mining discoveries were being made in the late 1880s. Near the southern end of the lakes was a little settlement called Sproat's Landing. Armstrong put Marion on the Revelstoke-Sproat's Landing route, running in opposition to the catamaran steamer Despatch, the only other steam vessel then in operation on the Arrow Lakes.

In 1890, Armstrong sold Marion to Capt. Robert Sanderson, who worked the vessel on various routes out of Arrowhead, BC. (Other sources state it was Sanderson who purchased Marion in 1889 and had her shipped to Revelstoke.) Marion was used as a low-water vessel. This was important because at that time the Upper and Lower Arrow Lakes were separated by a shallow stretch of water known as the "narrows". During certain times of the year such as the later summer, water levels were low in the narrows and also on the Columbia River. Vessels with a shallow draft such as Marion could continue to use the water routes when vessels requiring deeper water to float in were forced to curtail operations.