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Steamship on the Prairies: wreck from 1908 found in South Saskatchewan River

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A leather boot recovered from buried 1908 wreckage of SS City of Medicine Hat is shown in a handout photo.Archeologists say they have found what they believe is the wreck of a steamship that sank in the South Saskatchewan River more than a century ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-City of Saskatoon

SASKATOON – Archeologists say they have found what they believe is the wreck of a steamship that sank in the South Saskatchewan River more thana century ago.

The SS City of Medicine Hat hit telegraph wires that had been submerged by spring run-off and then drifted into the Traffic Bridge in Saskatoon in 1908.

The ship had been designed by a Scottish nobleman who wanted to establish a steam-shipping empire in Western Canada.

Horatio Hamilton Ross built the ship and decided to take his friends and family from Medicine Hat, Alta., to Winnipeg.

Archeologist Butch Amundson says more than 1,000 pieces including ceramics, metal parts and tableware were found in August during work on the bridge.

The artifacts were found about eight metres down in the sandy layer of river bottom.

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The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is Canada's trusted news source and leader in providing real-time, bilingual multimedia stories across print, broadcast and digital platforms.

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