British Yukon Navigation Co • 1927 Annual Report

On July 14th, 7:30 p.m. fire discovered on the Canadian in one of the rooms on saloon deck. Alarm was turned in and fire quickly put out. The boat had just come through the Fingers and had to work hard to get through and it is presumed that a live spark had been blown into the room.

After fire damaged its aft section, the Canadian made its last trip upstream to Whitehorse. It was moored above town near the present site of the S.S. Klondike. For three years, children used the boat as a playground and their parents scavenged lumber from the abandoned vessel.

In 1930, the riverbank beside the railway tracks was washing away. The Canadian was deliberately sunk to create a breakwater and prevent further erosion. The boiler, visible during low water, became a familiar landmark to Whitehorse residents. When the roadbed was widened in 1997, it was one of the artifacts salvaged and preserved to commemorate the memory of this hard-working vessel.

Captain "Paddy" Martin and two other former members of the Canadian's
original crew pose on the freight deck, 31 years after eventful trip.

This artifact was recovered from the sunken Canadian. Boilers - in all their heavy, steel, overbuilt, through-bolted ruggedness - were the heart of the steam engine technology that powered Yukon transportation at the end of the 19th and well into the 20th century.

 

 

 

 

This artifact was recovered from the sunken Canadian. The piston arm, driven by steam pressure from the engine, delivered power to the paddlewheel, making it turn.