At the turn of the century a fleet of pleasure steamers began to operate in Winnipeg carrying thousands
of passengers on weekend outings on the Red River. In 1910 there were twenty-seven steamboats 
plying the Red River between Selkirk and Winnipeg. 
                                                        After the St. Andrews locks were opened in 1910 by
                                                        Sir Wilfred Laurier, large passenger vessels like the
                                                        1500 passenger " Mount Cashel" had regular
                                                        weekend passenger service between Winnipeg
                                                        and Victoria Beach on Lake Winnipeg. 
                                                        When the Depression arrived on the prairies in 1930
                                                        the tourist trade slumped and pleasure steamers
                                                        disappeared on the Red River. The "Kenora,"  the
                                                        last lady of the great prairie steam dynasty still plied 
                                                        the Red River and Lake Winnipeg until 1965.
                                                        Today this beautiful old steamer has been restored, and
                                                        is part of the Marine Museum in Selkirk.Manitoba. 
 
The past
   On Friday, the 10th of June, 1859, life changed forever
at the "forks" in Winnipeg. On that spring day a young Indian
girl playing on the walkway of the Fortress of Upper Fort
Garry heard a sound unlike anything ever heard before in the
settlement, like a low echo of someone blowing across the lip
of a bottle, a load whistle,-then around a bend of the River this
"Monster" appeared as suddenly as an apparition.
 Little more than 90' long and 22' wide the "Anson Northrup"
the first Riverboat arrived at the Red River Settlement. Horses
with buckskin riders, two wheel Red River carts and Indians
clad in feathersnstreamed to the fort landing.
        The arrival of the Anson Northup reflected the tremendous
importance that this first day of the steamship signified for the
Prairies of The British Northwest. 
The superior capacity, speed and economy of the steamboats
tremendously increased the freight and passenger traffic to
Winnipeg, and had a great impact in expanding and developing
the West.
  In the 1870's thousands of new immigrants travelled through Minneapolis to Fargo and
then by Riverboat to the Forks. In 1874 the first shipment of grain totalling 856 bushels
                                      left Winnipeg on the sternwheeler "Minnesota" to the U.S.
                                      On October 8, 1877 the "Countess of Dufferin", the
                                      first railway engine arrived at the "Forks" on the barge
                                      pushed by the S.S. Selkirk sternwheeler. This spelled
                                      the end of the Riverboat era from the U.S. Now that
                                      river traffic between U.S. and Canada has ended,
                                      Riverboat companies began to develop the potential
                                      of river transportation between Winnipeg and Lake
                                     Winnipeg transporting fish and lumber from the north
                                      and freight and supplies for the northern communitie