Kootenai (sternwheeler)

The firm of Paquet & Smith built the vessel's frames in Portland, Oregon of Douglas fir. The frames were then shipped to the Little Dalles (now known as Northport), in the Washington Territory on the Columbia River near the border with British Columbia. Once the frames arrived, Henderson and McCartney, contractors for the Canadian Pacific Railway and shipbuilder E.G. Thompson assembled the rest of the hull with planks and timbers sawn on site from the local pine. The steamboat's engines were third hand, having been built in 1877 by Willamette Iron Works in Portland, Oregon, and previously installed in the McMinnville, running on the lower Columbia River, and the Pend Oreille Lake steamer Katie Hallett. ==Operations on Arrow Lakes route==

Steam navigation on the inland waters of northern inland Washington and southeastern British Columbia was seasonal and took place generally from May 15 to October 30 of each year. This was because ice or low water blocked river and lake travel at other times. Companies endeavored to launch steamboats early in the year to take advantage of the working season. The launch of Kootenai in late April 1885, and her first voyage in May was an example of this seasonally driven timing. Captain Pingston was accidentally shot and killed on April 27, 1886, and Kootenai made only one run to Revelstoke that year, under Capt. Nathaniel Lane. After that, Kootenai was laid up until 1890, when she was purchased by the Columbia and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company for $10,000 in promissory notes. The new owners worked Kootenai in the first part of the season of 1890 as a passenger and freight boat, making enough money in the first few trips to pay off the notes. When the sternwheeler Lytton came into service later in the 1890 season, Kootenai was used mostly as freight boat. Kootenai made 27 trips up and down the lakes in the 1890 season, starting on May 13 and ending on August 12. ==Sunk, raised, and dismantled==

On December 3, 1895, Kootenai ran onto a rock near Bannock Point and Wigwam, BC on Upper Arrow Lake. Although the steamer was floated off, the vessel was not considered worth repairing. Kootenai was towed to Nakusp, BC and dismantled. The steamer's machinery and fittings were used in building the sternwheeler Trail. ==Notes==