View source for Inlander

{{short description|Ship}}
{{For|the people|Inlanders (disambiguation){{!}}Inlander (disambiguation)}}
{{Other uses|The Inlander (disambiguation){{!}}The Inlander}}
{|{{Infobox Ship Begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox Ship Image
|Ship image=Inlander at Kitselas Canyon.gif
|Ship caption=''Inlander'' on the [[Skeena River]]
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=[[Canada]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Canada|1868}}
|Ship name=''Inlander''
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=Spratt shipyards at [[Victoria, British Columbia]]
|Ship laid down=1909 in Victoria
|Ship launched=spring of 1910 for the [[Skeena River]]
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=1910–1912
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate= Abandoned at [[Port Essington, British Columbia]]
|Ship notes=Captain Joseph Bucey 1910-11
Captain [[John Bonser (steamship captain)|John Bonser]] 1911-12    
}}
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|Ship class=
|Ship length={{convert|135|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|28|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed=12&nbsp;[[knot (unit)|knots]]
|Ship draft={{cvt|17|in|m}} empty {{cvt|30|in|m}} loaded
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'''''Inlander''''' was a [[sternwheeler]] that worked on the [[Skeena River]] in [[British Columbia]], Canada, from 1910 until 1912. She was owned by the Prince Rupert and Skeena River Navigation Company which was a syndicate of Skeena River businessmen who planned to use the ''Inlander'' as a passenger and freight steamer during the busy years of [[Grand Trunk Pacific Railway]] construction.<ref name="bennett">{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Norma|title=Pioneer Legacy: Chronicles of the Lower Skeena River|year=1997|publisher=Dr. REM Lee Hospital Foundation
|isbn=0-9683026-0-2|pages=231, 232}}</ref>

Her route took her from [[Port Essington, British Columbia|Port Essington]] to [[Hazelton, British Columbia|Hazelton]], over {{cvt|180|mi|order=flip}} of one of the most treacherous rivers that was ever used for steam navigation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Downs |first=Art |title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1|year=1971|publisher=Foremost Publishing|isbn=0-88826-033-4|page=61}}</ref>

==Captains and crew==
The ''Inlander''{{'}}s first captain was Joseph Bucey, who had been the [[Maritime pilot|pilot]] of the [[sternwheeler]] {{ship||Hazelton|sternwheeler|2}}. Some of the other officers were Robert Ryder, who was the chief engineer and Jerry Cunningham, the ship's mate. Wiggs O'Neill was the [[purser]]. O'Neill became the foremost historian on the Skeena River sternwheelers and in his later years wrote ''Steamboat Days on the Skeena River'' and ''Whitewater Men of the Skeena''. Wiggs Creek near [[Smithers, British Columbia|Smithers]] is named in his honour.<ref>{{BCGNIS|39099|Wiggs Creek}}</ref>

Captain Bucey left the ''Inlander'' in 1911 and appeared the following year as the captain of the {{ship||BC Express|sternwheeler|2}} on the [[Fraser River]].

For the rest of the 1911 season and through to her final voyage in the fall of 1912, the ''Inlander'' was piloted by Captain [[John Bonser (steamship captain)|John Bonser]]. It was fitting that Bonser piloted the last sternwheeler on the Skeena River, as he had pioneered it twenty years earlier in 1892 for the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] in the ''Caledonia'', naming many of the rapids and canyons along the route. The ''Inlander'' was the last of many notable riverboats under Bonser's command, among them, the ''[[Nechacco (sternwheeler)|Nechacco]]'' and the ''Northwest''.<ref name="thompson">{{cite web| last =Roger Knowles Thompson| title =Steamboating Uphill| url =http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/bonser.txt| access-date = 2007-07-08}}</ref>

==Final voyage==
[[File:Sternwheeler Inlander.jpg|thumb|right|''Inlander'' on [[Skeena River]] 1911]]
By 1912, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had reached Hazelton from [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]] and sternwheelers were no longer required on the Skeena River. One by one they departed until the ''Inlander'' was the last one left. Some like the {{ship||Operator|sternwheeler|2}}, {{ship||Conveyor|sternwheeler|2}} and {{ship||Skeena|sternwheeler|2}} went on to work on the Fraser River, while others like the ''Hazelton'' were dismantled. The ''Inlander'' left Hazelton for the final time at noon on September 10, 1912.<ref name="bennett"/> Captain Bonser blew the ''Inlander''{{'s}} whistle as a final farewell to the crowd that had gathered on the shore. When she reached Port Essington, the ''Inlander'' was pulled up onto her slipway and simply left to rot. Like the ''Inlander'', Captain Bonser had also made his final voyage. He died the following year on December 26, 1913.

==Historical artifacts==
The ''Inlander''{{'s}} paddlewheel shaft (or axle) was recovered years after she had perished in Port Essington. The shaft is now on public display in Halezeton. 
A large scale replica model of the ''Inlander'' was built by Lyle Krum ([[Terrace, British Columbia]]). It is on display at a museum near Terrace.<ref>{{cite book |last=Downs |first=Art |title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1|year=1971|publisher=Foremost Publishing|isbn=0-88826-033-4|pages=72}}</ref>{{Rp|72}}<ref name="thompson"/>

==See also==
*[[Steamboats of the Skeena River]]
*[[List of historical ships in British Columbia]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References and further reading==
* {{cite book
|last=Bennett
|first=Norma
|title=Pioneer Legacy: Chronicles of the Lower Skeena River
|year=1997
|publisher=Dr. REM Lee Hospital Foundation
|isbn=0-9683026-0-2}}
* {{cite book 
|last=Downs 
|first=Art 
|title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1
|year=1971
|publisher=Foremost Publishing
|isbn=0-88826-033-4}}

==External links==
*{{cite web
| last =Roger Knowles Thompson
| title =Steamboating Uphill
| url =http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/bonser.txt
| access-date = 2007-07-09}}
* {{BCGNIS|39099|Wiggs Creek}}
{{Skeena River steamboats}}{{Steamboats British Columbia}}

[[Category:Paddle steamers of British Columbia]]
[[Category:1910 ships]]
[[Category:Steamboats of the Skeena River]]