LJP

EJ_L, Jim and Geoff thanks for the warm "On Board"! EJ_L, I expect it will take me another year before I complete the research and actually begin building. I keep finding new info which makes me modify the draft plans which I have created. This has really been an interesting process doing the research and I love it. Stay tuned but research and then build is a new process for me and it is taking a long time.

reklein, thanks for the info. I found the historical society but you are correct that it will take some googling to find the catalog. I will find it... Eric, I am jealous that you were there for the '98 Centennial. When I was there in '95 the steamboat Keno in Dawson was closed for renovations for the Centennial. And the Klondike and Nenana were closed for the day by the time the tour got there and we had to leave before they opened the next morning. Walking around them is not like wandering around in them.

Earlier in the forum, I noted comments on the steamboat graveyard across from Dawson City. I have attached several photos that I took in 1995. The steamboats had long since collapsed, were unsafe to walk upon and completely enclosed by the underbrush. Hope you like 'em. LJP

Thanks for the warm welcome! And Kurt, thanks for the Bates info. I have no idea why it took me so long to get onto MSW...

Not quite a year ago I returned to modeling after a long hiatus. Work, life and an incredibly long post-retirement “honey -do” list had kept me from this hobby. In the past, everything was about clipper ships. I had kit bashed models of Cutty Sark (one still uncompleted and may never get done), Thermopylae, Flying Cloud and hull sections. The prospect of returning to spars, masts and rigging no longer intrigues me as it once did. Over that sabbatical I was able to visit museums and museum ships as part of business trips or vacations. On a trip in 1995 what really caught my eye was the Klondike Gold Rush steamboats. I was able to visit the Klondike, Keno and Nenana, along with the remains of the Tutshi and the Dawson City steamboat graveyard. The Institute of Nautical Archeology, John Pollard et al., has had a wonderful series of surveys done on these and other Klondike steamboats. I loved the steamboats but really wanted to research and scratch build a sternwheeler with local interest. I chose the Thistle (1894) of Oshkosh, Wisconsin partially because of its unusual octagonal pilothouse. As a sternwheeler with a 21-year life, although no hull plans exist (no surprise there) there are numerous photos, similar sternwheelers and newspaper articles to draw from. And lots of general publications as Bates, Hunter, Kane and others. And of course, the MSW feeds on Bertrand, Arabia, Herione and Eric’s excellent forum on steamboats. What amazes me is the quality of the models, but also the willingness of all to answer questions non-judgmentally. While I may never rise to that level of mastership and it will take much longer than most, I really appreciate the wonderful interaction with like minded people, regardless of their skill levels or where they live. Thanks, LJP