Then in 1900, Cunningham sent Bonser down to Victoria to design a sternwheeler specifically for the Skeena River. This would become the "Hazelton" and under Bonser’s command she soon proved to be superior to all the other boats on the river. In her first season, she went to Hazelton thirteen times, making the trip upstream in forty hours and downstream in ten. Realizing that the new HBC sternwheeler "Strathcona" and the "Caledonia" could not compete, the HBC built a third sternwheeler, the "Mount Royal" and hired Captain Johnson as her pilot.