Kemano- MV Nechako

MV Nechako

MV Nechako photo from 1954 copy of the Kitimat Ingot

Jeff Watt Photo

107 ft wooden hull boat, built by Boeing's Vancouver Shipyard.
MV Nechako Made 2 round trips per week, Kitimat to Kemano

Built in 1929 as the “Cora Marie” a luxury yacht of William Curtis Shelly, BC's Minister of Finance, 1929-30
Moved to Vancouver in 1910.
Who with his brother, Fredrick “Fred” Shelly, started the 4X bakery in Parksville.
Boat named after Cora Marie Shelly, nee Snure
b- Jan 1882 in ON
d- Jan 20, 1973 in Vancouver, age 92.
wife of William Curtis Shelly
b- Sept 17, 1878 ON
d- Aug 13, 1951 in Vancouver, age 72
father- William James Tallman Shelly
mother- Ellen High
1901 all in St. Catherine, ON
all buried in Snure, Church of Christ Cemetery,
Jordan, Louth Township, Lincoln County, ON, Conc 4, lot 19
Cora Marie was bought in 1951 by Alcan

MV Nechako at the Kemano Wharf
Unknown Airplane in the Distance
this boat made 2 round trips weekly from Kitimat to Kemano
1954- Captain Bill Cogswell Photo courtesy Jim Hanna

Cartoon by Allan “Al” Beaton
sent from Jim Hanna
Wonderful drawing of the MV Nechako from early-mid 1950's
bought by Kitimat Constructors in 1952
built in 1929 as the “Cora Marie”
Allan “Al” Beaton
b- 1923 in Vancouver BC
d- 1967
He served in the RCAF in WWII
After the war he attended the Vancouver School of Fine Arts.
He travelled in Mexico and then worked for a construction company in Kitimat BC.
The caricatures he drew for the construction company, were seen by the editor of the Vancouver Province newspaper,
who hired him as editorial cartoonist in 1953.
He was editorial cartoonist for the Toronto Telegram from 1961 to 1967.
He won a prize at the Montreal International Salon of Cartoons in 1965.
He was the creator of the “Ookpik” comic strip
which ran in more than fifty Canadian and US daily newspapers.
It was based on the popular Arctic Owl stuffed toy, in the mid 60's.
I believe the Kitimat Museum has a book of his cartoons.

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