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Thank you very much for the leads and help, sirs!

This should answer your question, from James Gilmore, "The St. Lawrence River Canals Vessel," Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, [i]Transactions[/i], 1957, p. 135:

The package freighter, while outwardly similar to the bulk vessel, differs in having a ‘tween deck and shell doors. The lower deck, of course, allows much better stowage of diversified cargo and the shell door allow loading by fork-lift or other mechanical means. The older package freighter had a shaft-and-pulley arrangement for handling cargo but these have now disappeared. In these ships a continuous shaft was led from the engine room just clear of the hatches and close up to the deckhead. A friction clutch arranged at each hatch supplied power for a wire hoist for handling cargo from the hold space to the ‘tween deck whence it was passed through the shell doors on skids. […] Most of these vessels still have cargo booms fitted although they are now rarely used, most of the freight being handled on pallets or by elevators.

The Regina, Keystrom, and Benjamin Noble only had one deck in their cargo holds. Yet the Wexford has two decks and the 3 hatches are aligned with one another and they are no screens or bulkhead separating them. Looking at the Saskatoon, I do not think she has 2 cargo decks within the hold. She would have to carry other cargo on deck.

I can't seem to find any plans online for a 250' canal-sized package freighter like the SASKATOON. Did these boats have two decks in their holds, an upper and lower with access to get to the lower hatches? Thanks in advance!