The Klondike Gold Rush Steamers: The Yukon River’s Steam Navigation Story.

Speaker:  Robert D. Turner, Curator Emeritus, Royal BC Museum

Description:

Sternwheeler steamers plied the Yukon River for nearly three-quarters of a century from the late 1800s until the mid-1950s. Some were pioneering little vessels used by fur traders and a few early prospectors. The Klondike Gold Rush and the later rushes to Nome and Fairbanks at the turn of the century brought dozens of steamers, some crude and makeshift, others palatial, and thousands of people to the Yukon. Over the next decades the steamers became part of the White Pass & Yukon and Alaska Railroad’s extensive services. This is their story from construction through the challenges of navigating 2000 miles of river and its sandbars, rapids and ice jams.