In the 1880's, the only means of marine transport was the Esquimalt and Nanaimo's ship "Label", which left Victoria every Tuesday morning for Comox. The 140 mile, two-day trip had stops at Sidney and Nanaimo. The inauguration of the Victoria and Sidney (V&S) Railway in 1894 provided citizens of Victoria with a faster route to the Gulf Islands and Nanaimo through connections made at Sidney. The Sidney and Nanaimo Navigation Company's Steamers "Unecan" and "Strathcona" (a stern wheeler replaced later by the "Iroquois") connected travellers to points further north.
The "Iroquois" was built in 1901 for T.W. Paterson (later to become Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia). The "Iroquois" and her sister ship, the "Sechelt", operated to the spring of 1911, when, within a period of three weeks, both sank, with great loss of life. In November, 1900, the newly created Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company took control of the V&S as part of a planned rail-ferry route to the mainland.

The S.S. "Georgian" began the run the following year. In 1902, the Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company was taken over by the Great Northern Railway, which placed the S.S. "Victorian" on the route from Sidney to Port Guichon, located on the Fraser River. The "Victorian" operated on the run until 1904.
The Canadian Northern Pacific railway inaugurated a new Gulf Island service in January 1912 from Sidney , using the steamer S.S. "Joan" and in 1914 the S.S. "Queen City" took over the service. In 1914, the Great Northern Pacific Railway constructed a new ferry slip facing south into Bazan Bay - now the Washington State Ferry terminal.
The Washington State Ferries Service started the Sidney-Anacortes run in 1922 with the Harvester King pictured above. The Sidney Terminal was located on the wharf at the foot of Beacon Avenue.The M.V. "Motor Princess" was operated by the Canadian Pacific Company from 1923 to 1926 on the Sidney-Bellingham, Washington route. In 1929, she was moved to the new Steveston-Sidney route, establishing the first all-Canadian car ferry service between Sidney and the Canadian mainland.
Perhaps the longest serving vessel in the area was the "Cy Peck". From 1930 to 1966, she was the link between Salt Spring Island and the Saanich Peninsula.
Today, a century later, Sidney is still the doorway to Anacortes and the American mainland, while the B.C. Ferries at Swartz Bay provides service to the Gulf Islands and the Canadian Mainland.
S.S.Iroquois