S.S. Sicamous  “Queen of Okanagan Lake”

An icon for Penticton for over 60 years, the S.S. Sicamous was known as the “Queen of Okanagan Lake”. During her long and illustrious career she became one of the most beloved and revered steam-powered sternwheelers in the North-West.

Built in 1914 at the then almost unheard of cost of $180 thousand, she was the C.P.R.’s answer to the serious challenge mounted by James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway for the bulk of the trade in the mineral rich southern interior country.

Over 200 feet long, steel-hulled and capable of carrying more than 500 passengers, she was one of the two largest sternwheelers north of San Francisco and the last word in luxury.  Her staterooms were finished in teak from Burma, mahogany from Australia and cedar from British Columbia.  Brass fixtures gleamed throughout and beveled mirrors and coloured skylights enhanced here elegance.  In her 65 foot long dining room monogrammed silver plate, embossed dinnerware, spotless linen and faultless service awaited her passengers.

Flying the distinctive checkered flag of the C.P.R., for more than two decades she plied the mountain flanked waters of Okanagan Lake.  Logging over one million miles at a steady 17 knots, she carried ranchers, orchardists, remittance men, prospectors, businessmen and a myriad of others who graced the Okanagan scene more than half a century ago.  Under the sure command of captains like George Ludlow Estabrooks and Joseph B. Weeks, she called in at little known whistle stops like Nahun, Caesar’s Landing and Gellatly and regularly at Kelowna, Okanagan Landing and Penticton, carrying both passengers and freight.

And she served the valley faithfully and well until the ever expanding Kettle Valley Railway line and an increasing network of roads and highways began to render her obsolete.  By the mid 1920′s, when the C.N.R. completed the line between Kamloops and Kelowna, her days were numbered.  Finally, in 1936, she was pulled from service and berthed at Okanagan Landing.  she lay there, slowly disintegrating, until 1951, when a far-sighted  Penticton service club had her towed south down the lake to her old terminus in that lakeside city and her final mooring place.

Today the grand old lady of the Okanagan still stands on the familiar shores of the lake she served so well for so many years, a stately reminder of those yesterdays when the SICAMOUS was the “Queen of the lake.”

Check out some the S. S. Sicamous’s unique history.

If you have information that could help us expand our knowledge of this beautiful boat, or you would like to volunteer, or become a member please contact us!