This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Archeologists made a discovery, they believe, of the remains of the last steamship which sank in the South Saskatchewan River almost more than a century ago.
The steam ship called SS City of Medicine Hat accidently struck telegraph wires at the time, which led to uncontrollable flooding and made the ship drown on June 7, 1908. While the ship was drowning, the ship’s steering halted and it floated into one of the pillars holding up, what was then called, the Victoria Bridge in Saskatoon. Fortunately, nobody was killed during the accident as the passengers were taken ashore along with the captain and crew. The engineer jumped overboard and swam ashore.
The accident was a disaster of the time, often called the “greatest nautical disaster in prairie history.” The City of Medicine Hat was the last steamship to ever sail on the waters of the South Saskatchewan River. Archeologist Butch Amundson revealed that his team was thrilled to make the discovery of 1,000 artifacts including ceramics, metal parts, tableware and clothing last August during work on the bridge, now called the Traffic Bridge.
Amundson states that “one of the great things about this particular discovery is that it was a prediction that we had made that if any remains of the ship still (existed) that’s where they (would be).” He continued, “And when we put the drill holes down and started to bring up lumber painted white — that’s the colour of the ship — we were very excited about that.” He said “I had a pretty good hunch the hull of the City of Medicine Hat was underneath the bridge. We just didn’t have any real evidence until now.”
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