Ptarmigan (sternwheeler)
Ptarmigan was a sternwheel steamboat that operated in British Columbia on the Columbia River from 1903 to 1909. Design and Construction. "Ptarmigan" was built at Golden, BC and was the last vessel built for the Upper Columbia Navig. & Tramway Co., of which Capt. Frank P. Armstrong was the principal owner and manager. "Ptarmigan"'s engines were over 60 years old, and had been originally built for a ferry crossing the St. Lawrence River. The engines had been previously installed in two other sternwheelers on the upper Columbia River, specifically the first "Duchess", and the second "Duchess". The blunt -ended bow of "Ptarmigan" allowed the vessel to be more capable of pushing barges, which increased the vessel's utility and effective cargo capacity. Operations. "Ptarmigan" was placed on the Columbia River route that began at Golden and ran south, at least during high water, to Columbia Lake, the ultimate source of the Columbia River. In 1903, soon after completion, "Ptarmigan" was sold to the Columbia River Lumber Company, which hired Armstrong to manage its steamboat operations. In 1907 "Ptarmigan" hit a snag and sank (A snag is a sunken log jammed in the river bottom but sticking up through  the water to just below the surface). Captain Armstrong was able to raise "Ptarmigan" and return her to service. However "Ptarmigan" caught fire later in 1907, and her upper works were destroyed. Again, "Ptarmigan" was salvaged, her upper works were rebuilt and she was returned to service. Race with launch "Gian". The gasoline engine was a new development in the early 1900s. Captain Northcote Cantlie, who has gone down in history as "an eccentric Scot" purchased a gasoline-engined launch, "Gian", and placed her on the upper Columbia. Unlike Armstrong, Cantlie came from a wealthy background, drank champagne for breakfast , and kept a bagpiper as his personal attendant. Cantlie, knowing that "Gian" was at least theoretically faster than "Ptarmigan" made several challenges to Armstrong to race. There is a story that one day in late August 1906 Cantlie was out in his launch in the river at the same time as "Ptarmigan". Cantle seized the moment and sped past "Ptarmigan" with his bagpiper blasting out airs as "Gian" sped past. This was too much for Captain Armstrong, a master steamboat man and veteran of the Klondike Gold Rush. Armstrong ordered full steam ahead, and when "Ptarmigan" caught up to "Gian , two or three roustabouts reached over to Gian", seized the still-playing piper, and lifted him unharmed over to the foredeck of "Ptarmigan" while the piper reportedly never missed a note. "Ptarmigan" passed "Gian" and thereafter Cantlie steered clear of the big steamer. Dismantled. "Ptarmigan" was dismantled in 1909. "Ptarmigan"'s engines, which had been under water at least twice when the vessels they powered sank (once with "Ptarmigan", once with the first "Duchess") were installed in another vessel, the "Nowitka".