Ruth Shorts was pioneer Captain Thomas Shorts' first boat on Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada and starting with her, Shorts was the first boater on the lake, beginning a long history of ships and steam transportation that enabled the development of the Okanagan.[1] In the early 1880s, Shorts thought of beginning a freight business on the lake and had Pringle and Hamill of Lansdowne build a rowboat with a capacity of 2.5 tons. The boat was 22 feet (6.7 m) long and had a small sail. Shorts named the boat Ruth Shorts after his mother and he began service in 1883.[2][3] There was no set schedule, but the round trip generally took nine days and Shorts rowed in all weather for three years, averaging a passenger a month. He made about CAD$6000 rowing before venturing into steam with Mary Victoria Greenhow in 1886, only to lose his earnings.[4]
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References edit
- ^ Weeks, Joseph Burrow (1935). "Steamboating on Okanagan Lake". The sixth report of the Okanagan Historical Society. p. 224. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ^ Hatfield, Harley R. (1992). "Commercial Boats of the Okanagan". Okanagan history. Fifty-sixth report of the Okanagan Historical Society. pp. 20–33. Retrieved 2 Aug 2015.
- ^ McDougall, R. J. (1955). "Early Shipping on Okanagan Lake". The nineteenth report of the Okanagan Historical Society. pp. 133–135. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
- ^ Weeks, Joseph Burrow (1931). "The Steamer Penticton". Fifth annual report of the Okanagan Historical and Natural History Society. p. 7. Retrieved 18 August 2015.