According to Edward Affleck, there were nineteen paddlewheelers that traveled the Shuswap and Thompson waterways. The first commercial freight vessel to operate was the Hudson Bay Company’s Marten, built in 1866 at Chase. The paddlewheeler was completed at a cost of $63,000. One reporter called her "a credit to the Colony. Her maiden voyage took place on May 26, 1886 under the command of Captain W. Mouatt. The Marten had a relatively short life span, was sold to Mara and wrecked in 1877.

The last paddlewheeler to work the Shuswap was the CR Lamb, built in 1907 by the Arrow Lakes Lumber Company. She was sold to William Louie in 1932, fell into disuse sometime after 1938, and was decommissioned in 1949.

After span of 72 years of Thompson-Shuswap transportation, all that remains as a visible testament to the paddlewheeler era is the lift span at the Pritchard Bridge. The span, rebuilt for Captain Louie in 1932, permitted river travel and allowed the Thompson River system to retain its navigable class. Scholars credit the development and economics of road and rail transportation with the decline in use of water transportation.

Fact: The first paddle steamer was launched in1807. American Robert Fulton built a side-wheel paddle steamer called the Clermont. It traveled from New York City to Albany, ushering in the age of steamships.

Fact: Paddlewheelers were used more extensively in BC than in any other area of North America, including the Mississippi River.

Fact: Paddlewheelers were successful for three reasons. Their flat bottoms allowed them to bob like ducks in the water. Secondly, their wooden construction made them buoyant and fairly easy to repair. And, finally, they required a shallow draft rumored to be as little as 15 to 20 centimeters.