Ruth Shorts

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]

See also

References
  1. Weeks, Joseph Burrow (1935). "Steamboating on Okanagan Lake". The sixth report of the Okanagan Historical Society. p. 224. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  2. 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.
  3. McDougall, R. J. (1955). "Early Shipping on Okanagan Lake". The nineteenth report of the Okanagan Historical Society. pp. 133–135. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  4. Weeks, Joseph Burrow (1931). "The Steamer Penticton". Fifth annual report of the Okanagan Historical and Natural History Society. p. 7. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
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