Armstrong, Francis Patrick

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_P._Armstrong
  • Wiki profile notes:
    • Francis Patrick Armstrong (circa 1859–1923) was a steamboat captain in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. He also operated steamboats on the Kootenay River in Montana and on the Stikine River in western British Columbia. Steam navigation in the Rocky Mountain Trench which runs through the East Kootenay region was closely linked to Armstrong’s personality and career. In addition to being a steamboat captain, Armstrong was also a prospector, white-water boat pilot and guide in the Big Bend country of the Columbia River.
    • Armstrong had been born in Sorel, Quebec about 1859. He moved to Winnipeg in 1881, and then came west working with a Canadian Pacific Railway surveying crew in the Columbia Valley from Cranbrook to Golden.
    • Armstrong found employment with the Dominion government on his return from the war. He was seriously injured in an accident in Nelson, British Columbia, and died in a hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, in January 1923. His own life had spanned the entire history of steam navigation in the Rocky Mountain Trench from 1886 to 1920. An older riverman who had known Captain Armstrong said of him: “With Armstrong those who could pay were expected and those who couldn’t were never left behind”.
  • Second Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=210
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117736139/francis-patrick-armstrong