Steamboats of The Upper Columbia and Kootenay Rivers - Professionally Constructed Steamboats Appear

Professionally Constructed Steamboats Appear

Armstrong was eventually able to raise Duchess from the river bottom. He then applied the odd-shaped steamer to make enough money in 1887 to have an new sternwheeler built, also called Duchess. Armstrong hired the veteran shipbuilder Alexander Watson, of Victoria, BC to build the new steamer, which although small, was well-designed and looked like a steamboat instead of a floating old barn. Someone arranged to have handbills printed up, which on one side bore a woodcut print showing an idealized version of the new Duchess, and on the other side bore a statement showing the company's marketing strategy, which was to appeal to tourists, miners, hunters, and intending settlers, holding out the Duchess as the best means of accessing the Columbia Valley.

The handbill then praised the climate of the Columbia Valley as "WITHOUT EXCEPTION THE FINEST ON THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA" which even so was available at $1.00 per acre, payable five years. Gold mining was said to be prosperous, with the hint of more yet to be discovered, as "the country has not been explored off the beaten paths". All kinds of supplies were to be had cheaper than they could be shipped at Golden City all kinds of supplies can be obtained more cheaply than they can be brought in "by the Tourist, Settler, or Miner". Finally, the handbill advertised the important role and schedule that the new steamer Duchess would play in the development of the Columbia Valley:

Armstrong also had built a second steamer, Marion, which although smaller than the second Duchess, needed only six inches of water to run in. This was an advantage in the often shallow waters of the Columbia above Golden, where as Armstrong put it, "the river's bottom was often very close to the river's top".