View point 15 miles east of Terrace
From 1889, sternwheelers and small craft fought their way through the Coast Mountains, churning past such awesome places as the "Devil’s Elbow” and the “Hornet’s Nest”. Men and supplies were freighted upstream, furs and gold down stream. A quarter century of colour and excitement began to fade in 1912, as the Grand Trunk Pacific neared completion.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the prime era of sternwheeler steamboats in Western Canada, the Skeena River was acknowledged as being the most hazardous and treacherous of all navigable waterways in the area. There are 11 major rapids along the Skeena. Their names - "Whirly Gig", "Hornet's Nest" and "The Devil's Elbow" - demonstrate the fury of the river.
Cables were used to assist the sternwheelers past the most dangerous rapids. One end of the cable was anchored above the rapids with the other end attached to a log floated downstream below the white water. The boat would take the cable, fastened it to a steam capstan (machine for lifting and pulling) and simply wound itself upstream. The log and cable were then returned to the river to wait for the next vessel.
From 1891 to 1912, the sternwheelers on the Skeena serviced both the fur trade and the mining industry. However, the completion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway ended their usefulness. The last boat to sail from Hazelton was the Inlander, after only two years service on the Skeena.
