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P.W.D. 250 – Sternwheeler Dredge

by John MacFarlane 2020

P.W.D. 250 in 1984 at Fort McMurray AB. (Photo from the Dwight R. LaRiviere collection.)

I was recently sent a sequence of images that Dwight R. LaRiviere took in 1984. He wrote that he was the Fleet Engineer when she was hauled out at Fort McMurray.

P.W.D. 250 in 1984 at Fort McMurray AB. (Photo from the Dwight R. LaRiviere collection.)

The P.W.D. No. 250 176520 (Canada) was a river dredge built in 1946 at Edmonton AB. About 1979 she was renamed as D.P.W. 250 and about 2003 she was renamed as D 250. 100.1’ x 24.6’ x 5.7’ (30.5m) steel hulled 135hp engine. In 1953 she was rebuilt at Waterways AB. In 1946–1979 she was owned by The Minister of Public Works, Ottawa ON. In 2001–2003 she was owned by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Ottawa ON.

P.W.D. 250 (Photo from the Dwight R. LaRiviere collection.)

The vessel was handled by some heavy construction machinery on a riverside skidway.

P.W.D. 250 (Photo from the Dwight R. LaRiviere collection.)

When the vessel was retired the federal government deposited the vessel in the collection of the Fort McMurray Heritage Shipyard where it has been restored and put on display.

To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2020) P.W.D. 250 – Sternwheeler Dredge. Nauticapedia.ca 2020. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/PWD250.php

Site News: February 12, 2025

ANOTHER MILESTONE REACHED

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 95,146 vessel histories (with 16,409 images and 14,064 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 4000 images).

My thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of the vessel histories in the vessel database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he continues to contribute to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.

My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.

Thanks to John Spivey who is beginning his 4th year of fact checking all of the entries in the vessel database.

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