The End of Steamboat Travel
Although I have ridden steamboats located on the Missouri and
Mississippi Rivers, the most interesting sight to me was a steamboat, abandoned
on a “bone pile” in Alaska. My husband and I traveled to our 49th
state several years ago and followed the same trail used by the gold miners. The
last big strike for gold drew men and women from all over the world hoping to
strike it rich in the Yukon from 1896-1899. We followed the trail 30,000-40,000
prospectors used. Either walking or using mules, each packed and carted nearly
a ton of the supplies required by the Canadian government for a year’s survival
in the Klondike.
The “bone yard” was what was left of the nearly 300 vessels built
in the lower 48 states and steamed up the Yukon River or disassembled, carried
cross-country and reassembled for use. The terrain 100 years after the fact was
still rugged and a testament to the gold seekers’ tenacity. Once the rush was
over, population and towns disappeared, and the riverboats were left to decay
on banks or scuttled in the rivers.
It was the last hurrah for these paddle-wheelers in Alaska. Now all
that’s left are those along the Mississippi serving as tourist attractions or
as casinos for those interested in continuing the sport of gambling on a river
boat much like it was done 150 years ago.
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