Saving the Sicamous

The story of how we almost lost this precious piece of our past

In the distance the faint throb of diesel engines can be heard and along the shoreline a throng of people looks anxiously up the lake. A murmur runs through the crowd as first the superstructure, then the hull can be seen. The S.S. Sicamous is returning to Penticton.

This is her first trip down the lake from Okanagan landing in fifteen years and it’s a regal triumph of a sort: in 1937, with the advent of the motor vehicle, the CPR had taken the Sicamous out of service and tied her up at Okanagan Landing, thinking her useful life on Okanagan Lake was done.

For twenty-three years she was Queen of Okanagan Lake, the epitome of the lake sternwheelers, the beloved “White Swan”. Now she was abandoned, left to rot, to be pilfered and vandalized.

But Sicamous wasn’t forgotten and in 1951, thanks to the City of Penticton, Mayor Robert Lyons and the Penticton Gyro Club, the Sicamous made her way down the lake she had plied so faithfully for years, towed by the diesel tug M.V. Okanagan, to Penticton where she found her final home.

When the Sicamous arrived she was in dreadful condition, the victim of fifteen years’ of decay, vandalism and neglect. Her recovery would be a long and, at times, tortuous journey, but she was finally home and in the hands of people who loved her. (To be continued…)

With the permanent return of the S.S. Sicamous to Penticton in 1951, the first stage of the long journey back from her demise was complete.

The boat had been pretty well ignored after it came out of service. She had been vandalized and had started to rapidly deteriorate. The Penticton Gyro Club committed $17,000 (a very large sum in 1951) to renovate and remodel the “Grand Lady of the Lake”.

It was thanks to the local Gyro Club, Penticton Mayor William Rathburn and a city council that supported the club’s efforts that the Sicamous survived at all.

One of those waiting on the foreshore on August 27, 1951 with tears in his eyes was her former Captain, George Esterbrooks, who spent many years on her. He was quoted in the Herald as saying, “She was a fine boat and it’s a good thing she’s here… Penticton was her home port. She tied up here every night…” Of note is that there were three other former Captains that lived in Penticton: Joseph Weeks, William Kirby and George Robinson.

The members of the Gyro Club followed through on their commitment the following year by giving the old girl a good coat of paint and doing some repairs to the woodwork. From a distance she looked great.

RESTORATION: THE HARD WORK BEGINS

The latest stage in the Sicamous’ saga begins in 1987. At the urging of Randy Manuel, museum curator, then-Mayor Dorothy Whittaker and a marine consultant inspected the Sicamous to determine if she could be restored to her original condition. The verdict was that she could be, although there was a tremendous amount of work to do.

The S.S. Sicamous Restoration Society was formed in 1988 from a group of very dedicated volunteers. The first Board of Directors included Jack Petley (Chairman), Hartley Clelland, Lloyd Hansen, Larry Little, Ian MacLeod, Barb Reed, David Stocks and Fred Tayler.

They had taken on a Herculean task. In the years between the time she was brought home to Penticton and the Restoration Society took over her preservation, the Sicamous had served as home to the Penticton Museum as well as a number of restaurants. To bring her back to the state she was in during her years on the lake, a great deal of work had to be accomplished, much of it essential to the Sicamous’ very survival.

There was deterioration in the hull and woodwork that had to be repaired. A great deal of Sicamous’ original equipment had been lost to salvagers and vandals while she sat at Okanagan Landing from 1937 to ‘51: her furnishings, fixtures and fittings were scattered up and down the Okanagan Valley.

The saving grace was that the people of Penticton loved the Sicamous. Community support is what made the restoration possible. The dedication and loyalty of those who joined the Restoration Society and doggedly contributed their time and money towards the goal of bring her back to life was crucial.

A five stage plan was developed for the restoration. First came installation of fire suppression systems, then upgrading the heating and utilities. Then the Sicamous was ready to open for visitors as a heritage vessel while the on-going work of painstakingly restoring the upper decks and cabins to their origin condition proceeded.

Today the Sicamous is substantially restored. Visitors can come aboard much the same vessel they would have seen in 1935. The woodwork shines and the metalwork gleams. Many of the furnishings actually came from the Sicamous and great pains have been taken to ensure others are authentic. There is a tremendous collection of artifacts from the period to be enjoyed. The beautiful result comes from thousands of hours of volunteer labour and over $2 million dollars. It’s a truly astonishing accomplishment and all Penticton can be proud of it.