Four Generations on the Yukon

Four Generations on the Yukon. Vignettes in History. , Riverboats have plied the rivers of Alaska and the Yukon for more than 100 years. They were the primary mode of transportation to the gold fields of Interior Alaska, bringing prospectors and supplies to the growing boom towns along the Yukon River and its tributaries., Charlie Binkley felt the lure of the Yukon and Alaska, although he did not catch the gold fever that seized nearly 30,000 Klondike stampeders in 1897 and 1898. Charlie was interested in the boats that would play a major role in the Gold Rush. Early-day Binkley riverboat enterprises served the narrow, shallow, swift side streams that the larger transportation companies ignored. Binkley and his partner carried equipment and supplies to miners on such Yukon tributaries as the White River, the Pelly, the Stewart, the Fortymile, and the Porcupine. "Whenever there was a strike, they'd be right on top of it," said Charlie Binkley's son, Jim, "and they'd be paid off in gold dust right there on the spot.", The first boat of the year after spring break-up always created enormous excitement in the river settlements because it brought passengers and much-needed supplies after the long, cold winter months. The wood-burning steamboats added to the economy of Native communities by hiring woodcutters, deck crews, and pilots., In August 1901 Fairbanks was founded near this spot when the steamer Lavelle Young, with Captain Charles W. Adams in command, set entrepreneur E. T. Barnette ashore to establish a trading post. With the discovery of gold by prospector Felix Pedro in July 1902, Fairbanks became a viable gold rush town supplied by sternwheel-driven steamboats which were operated by resourceful, determined pioneer rivermen., Sternwheelers are still part of contemporary Fairbanks. The sternwheelers Discovery I, II, and III cruise the Chena River several times each day between May and September. Captain Jim and Mary Binkley and their four children-Skip, Jim Jr., Johne, and Marilee-have operated sternwheel riverboat cruises in Interior Alaska since 1950. Through their tours, residents and visitors gain an appreciation of river history and Native culture along Interior Alaska riverways., From the Gold Rush of '98 through statehood to the present, the four generations of the Binkley family have run Alaska's great rivers in the best of pioneer tradition., [Illustration captions, left to right, read] , . Miles Canyon, Yukon Territory, where Charlie Binkley started his riverboating career, c. 1898., . The Idler, a small freighter built in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1911 by the Noyes family, and operated in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s by Captain George Black. Captain Jim Binkley learned to navigate Interior rivers on the Idler., . Above, Discovery III, a 900 passenger sternwheeler, was built in 1987 by the Binkley family. It represents the third and fourth generations of the Binkleys, who are carrying on the tradition of riverboat pilots on Interior Alaskan rivers.