'We're up and running': Heritage Park's S.S. Moyie back after engine issues

It's full steam ahead for one of the most popular attractions at Heritage Park.

Officials with the park say though the S.S. Moyie has been out of service since July 1, it's now back in the water.

The boat has faced a few challenges this season.

In June, the water level of the Glenmore Reservoir was lowered to accommodate for spring runoff from the mountain parks, so the paddlewheeler sat in the mud.

Then, weeks later when the water level was back to normal, the boat had engine problems.

Heritage Park spokesperson Dominic Terry says the Moyie has two engines that operate the boat.

"Both of them have to be running and there was simultaneous problems with both of them," he said. "So we were out of the water for a bit, but we had some long nights here with our engineers and our crew and we're happy to say that we're up and running again."

Sternwheelers were common place on Canadian waterways in the 1860s for communities that were not accessible by road or rail. The boats were the primary form of transportation for large amounts of freight or passengers since the days of the fur trade.

"The S.S. Moyie, built in 1898, was originally intended to ferry miners to the Klondike gold rush, instead, the Canadian Pacific Railway put her to use on Kootenay Lake to ferry passengers from its rail terminal at Kootenay Landing to Nelson, B.C.," reads Heritage Park's website.

"By 1957 the Moyie was North America's oldest sternwheeler still in service and was retired and sold to the city of Kaslo, B.C., where she was made into a museum. In 1965, Heritage Park commissioned the building of a half-size replica of the S.S. Moyie, which uses a diesel engine."

The Moyie typically runs seven days a week during the summer months but that's not the case this July.

"We have some issues with Transport Canada and our crew," said Terry. "Mondays and Tuesdays during July, we won't be running at this point, but we're hoping that in August we'll be up and running (seven days a week."

The Glenmore Reservoir was built in 1933 and has a capacity of 20 billion litres, and is the main source of drinking water for many Calgarians.

"It is a very busy reservoir with all the different user groups," said City of Calgary water treatment manager John Jagorinec. "It's an opportunity that people don't have elsewhere because this is one of the few reservoirs I believe in North America that allows this type of activity on their source drinking water."

Lynda Roberts, head of the Calgary Canoe Club, says she has watched recreation increase on the reservoir over the last few years mainly because people chose to paddle the waterway during the pandemic.

"We're getting a lot of members of the public, we're getting a lot of canoe rentals," she said. "So if we have the opportunity to use that whole Weaselhead Bay and higher level waters, it's just better for everybody to be honest so it's good for us."