Princess Louise (sidewheeler)

Olympia was built in 1869 in New York City by John English and Sons to the order of George S. Wright, a pioneer steamboat man on Puget Sound. The ship was long, with a beam of and depth of hold of . The hull was built of seasoned white oak. Power was supplied by single-cylinder walking beam type steam engine, manufactured by John Roach & Sons. The cylinder was in diameter and had a stroke of 11 feet (132 inches). Overall size of the vessel was 971 gross tons, The official United States steamboat registry number was 19297. Construction of Olympia was supervised by Capt. James Bolger, who commanded the vessel in the 75-day delivery voyage around Cape Horn. Olympia arrived in San Francisco on November 19, 1869. Continuing north, Olympia arrived at the city of Olympia on December 3, 1869. ==Operations==

On December 7, 1869, Olympia was employed on the Olympia-Victoria route for the first time, running under the ownership of the Finch and Wright partnership. ==1871 steamboat race==

circa 1871, Olympia's rival in the 1871 steamboat race. To meet the challenge of the Starrs, the Wright and Finch partnership brought out Eliza Anderson as their primary vessel and undercut the Starrs on passenger fares and freight rates. Isabel proved to be a speedier vessel than Anderson and so Wright and Finch substituted Olympia in the competition against the Starrs. The Starrs however responded by commissioning Joseph Gates, a well-regarded engineer on Columbia river steamboats, to design and build a steamer which would run faster and cheaper than Olympia. This vessel, which was named the North Pacific, was constructed at the Gates and Colyer shipyard in San Francisco, and launched on May 18, 1871. Capt. Dan Morrison brought North Pacific into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on June 23, 1871. For a few days after that, North Pacific was engage in trial trips. Meanwhile, Finch, in command of Olympia was preparing for a race to show the public which steamboat was superior. Finch went so far as to have the coal lumps on Olympia sorted into uniform sizes. Olympia was based in California for the next seven years and managed to collect another subsidy from a California rival in return for staying out of competition. During this time Olympia made a voyage to Hawaii. ==Canadian service==

circa 1880. By 1878, the Starrs had paid $50,000 to Olympia's owners, and they decided to terminate the subsidy. Olympia was then returned to Puget Sound, and was then under the ownership of George S. Wright. At that time, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was engaged in a competitive struggle with John Irving, who had recently purchased the former Gold Rush steamer Wilson G. Hunt. To beat the Hunt, the Hudson's Bay Company HBC bought Olympia from Wright for $75,000. The ship was reregistered in Canada and assigned Canadian registry #72682. HBC operated Olympia under the ship's original name until May 1879, when it changed the name to Princess Louise, after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848–1939), a daughter of Queen Victoria, who was married to Marquess of Lorne (1845–1914), Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. In the summer of 1879, competition between Princess Louise and the Hunt drove rates down on the routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland. In August 1879 Princess Louise ran an excursion around Vancouver Island, which was possibly the first such cruise to take place. In May 1881, the Canadian Pacific was anxiously recruiting as many laborers as it could for the difficult work of completing the transcontinental rail line down the valley of the Fraser River. Princess Louise transported the first group of laborers, who had been recruited from San Francisco and from China to New Westminster on March 25, 1881. ==Transfer of ownership==

In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company was incorporated. Although the stated capital was $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares valued at $100 each, the actual paid-up capital was only $336,000, divided in 3,360 shares at $100 per share. Most of the shares were controlled indirectly by John Irving, but the Hudson's Bay Company was also allocated a total 1,150 shares. This was in return for transferring ownership of three HBC steamships, including the Princess Louise to the new company, with 750 shares specifically allocated to the Princess Louise. Princess Louise began its first trip for the new company on March 13, 1883, steaming under Capt. William McCulloch, from Victoria, to Alert Bay, Prince Rupert, Metlakatla, Port Simpson, the Skeena River, Wrangell, Alaska and way ports along the route. Also in 1883, Princess Louise was refitted with new boilers, manufactured by Albion Iron Works of Victoria. Other overhaul work was completed and the ship was returned to service before the beginning of 1884. In October 1887, the mayor of Vancouver, which then was the second largest city in British Columbia next to Victoria, tried to discourage visitors to Vancouver Island by denouncing Princess Louise as unseaworth. John Irving felt this went too far, and he threatened to sue the mayor for libel. He also banned the mayor from travel on any of the company's ships. From 1886 to 1890, Princess Louise was operated on northern routes, serving among other communities the many cannery ports in coastal British Columbia. On August 16, 1890, Princess Louise developed a serious leak which forced the ship to return to Victoria. Princess Louise was replaced on the route by Islander. In 1895 Princess Louise was estimated to be worth $35,000. In September 1898, Princess Louise returned to Victoria carrying 8,100 cases of canned salmon from Alert Bay, but on this trip there had been a fatal accident. Three of the crew had fallen overboard when they were leaning on a railing posing for a photograph. They were washed beneath the sidewheel and never seen again./ ==Canadian Pacific Railway==

In 1901, the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company and all its ships, including Princess Louise. The name of Princess Louise inspired the Canadian Pacific to name a new series of coastal liners as "Princesses". ==Disposition==

In November 1906 Princess Louise was sold to Marpole McDonald of Victoria, who removed the machinery and converted the vessel to a barge. In 1908 McDonald sold the barge to Vancouver Dredging and Salvage Company. In 1916, the barge was sold again to Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, which in turn, in 1917, sold the barge to Whalen Pulp and Paper Co., which in the same year beached the hull on Howe Sound at Woodfibre, British Columbia. The unpowered vessel is also reported to have sunk a considerable distance away from Woodfibre, at Port Alice, British Columbia in 1919 on northern Vancouver Island. ==Notes==