The Radium Queen and her sister ship the Radium King were built in Sorel, Quebec in 1937, for the Northern Transportation Company, a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold Mines.

The Radium Queen towed barges from the railhead at Waterways, Alberta to a portage around the rapids.

It was built at the Manseau Shipyards, then disassembled and shipped by railroad to Waterways.

The parts to the Radium King were then portaged around the rapids to be assembled on the lower reaches.

In 2005 Atomic Energy of Canada published a study of the toxic legacy of the mining of radioactive ore at Port Radium.