Stern-wheel steamship M.K. MERWIN on the Yukon River, circa 1898

• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Stern wheelers > Yukon; Rivers > Yukon; W.K. Merwin (Stern-wheeler); Paddle steamers > Yukon; Yukon River (Yukon and Alaska); Yukon; Canada; Pacific; Newell; Shelton; Yukon river; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/581

Filed in Yukon territory The W.K. MERWIN was a 108-foot stern-wheeler of 230 tons. She was built at Seattle in 1883, laid up in 1894, and came out again in 1896 to try several sound and river routes, including the Olympia-Shelton and Skagit River runs, before going north. On January 19, 1897, in operation on the Skagit River, she collided with the half-open drawspan of the railway bridge at Mt. Vernon. All the upperworks to the smokestack were demolished, and the pilot house and texas reduced to kindling. After repairs, she operated on the Yukon River until 1900. [Source: Gordon Newell, ed., The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest (Seattle: Superior Publishing Co, 1966). and Explore North web site, http://www.explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-boats.htm]