Steamboats of the upper Columbia and Kootenay Rivers

Abandoned steamboats at Golden, BC c. 1926. Selkirk is clearly shown, a portion of a smaller unidentified vessel is visible on right.

From 1886 to 1920, steamboats ran on the upper reaches of the Columbia and Kootenay in the Rocky Mountain Trench, in western North America. The circumstances of the rivers in the area, and the construction of transcontinental railways across the trench from east to west made steamboat navigation possible.