MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Bad Luck Boneta – Part 3

After the collision with the Idaho on July 17, 1905, the steamer Boneta’s co-owners, John D. McDonald and George E. Reynolds, contracted to refloat their boat. On July 21, two smaller boats, Telephone and Queen, towed three barges to the scene, joined by the Carscallen brothers’ hoisting engine and a crew.

The workers slowly turned Boneta on its side in the water and patched the hole in the hull. Using Carscallen’s hoist, they rolled the hull back upright and lifted it off the water while siphoning off enough water to refloat it.

Boneta was then towed to P.W. Johnson Boat Works on Coeur d’Alene’s waterfront for repairs. After several days in drydock, it resumed its daily runs up the St. Joe.

It was two years before there was an attempt to recover damages to the Boneta from St. Joe Transportation Company. On May 23, 1907, McDonald and Reynolds filed a lawsuit in Rathdrum District Court for $2,848.72 ($98,232 adjusted for inflation) for personal effects, goods, revenue loss and structural damage. Negligence and poor skill by the steamer Idaho’s captain and crew were alleged as the cause of the accident.   

It appears the suit was never adjudicated, however. On Sept. 4, 1907, the McDonalds-Reynolds partnership was replaced by People’s Transportation Company. The new steamer line acquired the Boneta and Telephone. The Boneta would continue its daily freight and passenger runs to the head of navigation on the St. Joe. 

Within two months, the White Star Navigation Company purchased the People’s Transportation Company, incorporating its boats and barges, including the Boneta, into its fleet.

On April 15, 1908, J.C. White bought White Star Navigation, transferring ownership of the Boneta and the rest of its fleet to his Red Collar Line. In less than a year, Boneta had been amazingly absorbed by the same company McDonald and Reynolds had sued.   

Boneta’s trips up the St. Joe continued under its new ownership until bad luck struck again. A fire broke out in the boiler area of the steamer North Star, moored next to Boneta at Ferrell wharf Oct. 5, 1908, nearly destroying the hull. 

According to local steamboat historian John Wood, the North Star’s fire quickly spread from the North Star to Boneta. When the fire was finally noticed, mooring lines to both boats were cut and the tug St. Joe edged them out into the river to keep the docks and adjacent buildings from burning.  Someone opened the Boneta’s seacocks, allowing water into the hull and it partially sank, leaving most of the damage to structures above the deck.  

The North Star, severely damaged by fire, may have been irreparable, however. Its fate after the fire remains unknown. The Boneta was towed to Coeur d’Alene, where the salvage team left it to founder on the lakeshore near City Park for nearly four months. Citizen complaints prompted the Coeur d’Alene City Council to request the hull’s removal, and Owner J.C. White complied only after a July 3, 1909, council ultimatum.

Instead of refitting Boneta as a steamer, White converted its hull to a barge. It had a single-level enclosed deck structure and beginning in June 1910, it was paired with the Flyer and other steamers as the Ark Boneta dance and excursion barge. Moonlight cruises, music, and dancing were offered to communities around the lake, similar to today’s Lake Coeur d’Alene Cruise Boats’ summer offerings. 

The story goes that Boneta was acquired by the Knights of Pythias in 1915. The group had the enclosed area converted into a lodge room and it was moored at Conkling Park near Harrison. It was used by various groups that year, but beyond that time, there is no mention of the ultimate fate of Boneta, the Bad Luck Lady of the Lake.

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    This cropped photo shows Boneta transformed into the Ark Boneta dance and excursion barge after the fire at Ferrell Landing. Owner J.C. White chose not to rebuild it as a steamboat, instead having a long, enclosed structure built on its deck.