Fate Scrapped 1916–1917 Launched May 1903 Beam 3.66 m | Type Steamboat Length 18 m | |
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Owner Brothers of the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate (1903–1911)
Ford and Lawrence (1911–) Tonnage 28.9 (gross), 19.5 (registered) | ||
St. Charles was a small, screw-driven steamboat that serviced the upper Peace River, from 1903 to 1914. She was built from local timber for Brothers of the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate, using engines and other fittings brought from Peterborough, Ontario. She was the first steamboat on the upper Peace River. She was sold in 1911 to Ford and Lawrence. According to Edward L. Affleck, St. Charles was one of a "fleet of pint-sized vessels" the Order operated, so they would not have to rely on the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly on river shipping.
The Peace River has two long navigable sections, from the mouth on Lake Athabasca to the Vermilion Chutes, and on the upper river, from Fort Vermilion to Hudson's Hope—a distance of 526 miles (847 km). St Charles was confined to the upper reaches.