Steamboats of the Yukon River

The mouth of the Yukon River is far to the west at St. Michael and a journey from Seattle or San Francisco covered some 4,000 miles (6,400 km).

There were a series of steamers owned by the Alaska Commercial Company: Yukon (screw propeller) of 1869, and St. Michael (stern wheel) of 1879.

In 1901, the company entered the steamboat business to complete the service to points on the Yukon River.

[2] In 1914, White Pass took over the Northern Navigation Co., which was the biggest operator on the lower Yukon River (Dawson City–Tanana–St.

Throughout its reign over the Yukon River and tributaries, the White Pass obtained 88 steamboats, some new, most from companies it took over.

Connecting passenger service between Marshall and St. Michael was provided by the Northern Commercial Co., from 1923 to 1949, using the 45-foot 16-gross ton gasoline-powered screw propeller vessel Agulleit (U.S.A. #214487).

The White Pass was put out of the river business altogether by competition from the North Klondike Highway (Whitehorse–Dawson City) and the Atlin Road, which were completed in the early 1950s.

The last commercial steamboat to operate under its own power on the Yukon River was the Keno, from Whitehorse to Dawson City on August 26–29, 1960.