The Discovery III Stern-Wheeler

Today we took a cruise on the Discovery III Stern-Wheeler down the Chena River. Your three-and-a-half hour cruise will take you into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for five generations.

The Brinkley family's steam boating goes back over 100 years and five generations to the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1898, when Charles M. Brinkley hiked over the Chilkoot Pass with other stampeders, he was not so much in search of gold as he was the chance to chart and navigate the Yukon. He became a respected pilot and boat-builder in the north.

The cruise down the Chena River takes us to Susan Butcher's home and the site of her world famous Alaska Husky Dog Kennels. She and her lead dog, Granite, won four Iditarod championships. Sled dogs are some of the world's best cared for athletes. They receive the best food and medical attention and they get to do what they love most, run. Mushers treat their sled dogs like part of the family, and the bond between them is as strong as the bond between human members of a family.

They also have a demonstration of an Alaskan Float Plane taking off and landing close to the boat. Alaska has the largest number of licensed private pilots of any other state in the Union. During the long winter months this is about the only way to get around from place to place. They can be equipped with wheels, floats or skies.

One place of great interest was a replica of an Athabascan Indian Village. They have lived in the Alaska area for over 12,000 years and it was not until about the early 1800's that they were exposed to outside influences. We learned that about 2,000 years ago some of the Tribe migrated south to Arizona and New Mexico and became known as Apaches and Navajo Indians.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few pictures that will help you enjoy what we saw today.