Sternwheeler "Northwestern" which ws built in Portland, Oregon in 1912

• Main Author: Howard Freeman
• Other Authors: Special Collections
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Graham, Elwood A.
• Subjects: "Northwestern" (sternwheeler); Alaska; Kuskokwim River; floating crew barracks; Kuskokwim
• Online Access: http://photos.salemhistory.net/u?/specialcol,1991

This photo is of the sternwheeler "Northwestern" which, in a previous life had been known as the "Grahamona". It was built originally in Portland, Oregon, in 1912; it was renamed in 1920. As the "Northwestern" it was fitted out as a floating crew barracks and work boat for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company which was stringing new cables through the Columbia Gorge. After that it operated as a freight boat on the Willamette River for a time, and then, after having the bulkheads & cabins reinforced, headed up the coast to Alaska where it was still running on the Kuskokwim River in 1947.