Steamboat picking up fuel on the Iditarod River, ca. 1907

• Main Author: Lomen Bros.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Gold rushes; Rivers; Steamboats; Steamboat; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/7014

The Iditarod River is one of many rivers which flow into the Yukon. Gold was discovered on the Iditarod in 1908, and by 1911 the area had about 3,500 inhabitants. Large steamboats could travel on the Iditarod River in the spring, when waters were high. Later in the season, only smaller boats could use the river. This photo, probably taken sometime in the 1900s, shows the steamboat "Reliance" stopping for wood on the Iditarod River. Steamboats used wood to fuel the boilers of their powerful steam engines. The wood was cut and left in piles at fueling stations along the shore. Original title: On the Itidarod. 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard: gelatin, b&w; 19 x 22 cm.