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SS Moyie News
This year marks the SS Moyie’s 125 anniversary. This wonderful sternwheeler was launched on October 22, 1898, at Nelson for service on Kootenay Lake. I’ve been helping out with the Moyie since 1988 as Project Historian, and it is wonderful to see this National Historic Site of Canada each time I visit Kaslo where she has been preserved since 1958. The Kootenay Lake Historical Society, which is the steward for the SS Moyie, have done an amazing job of preserving and displaying this national treasure. For over a year the Moyie has been undergoing extensive stabilization structural work and systematic repairs and upgrading of the weather proofing of her decks. This will all be finished by opening date on Mother’s Day in 2023. Special events are planned throughout the summer and early fall. Check out the Moyie’s website at: www.klhs.bc.ca.Nancy and I visited the Moyie in September at the time of the Canadian Pacific Railway Historical Assoc. and the Great Northern Railway Historical Society joint meetings in Nelson, and I gave tours along with other volunteers for people from the convention visiting Kaslo. Later I gave two history talks at Nelson. Here are a few photos of the work taking place on Moyie:
Ken Butler next to the Moyie with its full scaffolding in Sept. 2022. Ken, now retired, was project manager for the Moyie for many years.
The Moyie, flags at half-mast for the passing of Queen Elizabeth, in mid-refit.
By the time the work is all done and repainting finished, the Moyie should look much like this photo from 2005. It is perhaps an irony, that all the work going will largely be unnoticed once it is completed. But the important thing is that the future of the Moyie will be secure for years to come.
Kit Ashenhurst, left, retired engineer and restoration project supervisor, explains the work underway to guests in Moyie’s forward smoking room. (Of course no smoking is permitted on board any more).
