Name: Steering Through Time Lecture Series #2 Robert Turner – Those Amazing Klondike Gold Rush Steamers
Start: 2026-03-26T04:00:00-07:00
Location: 1099 Lakeshore Dr W, Penticton, BC, Canada, British Columbia V2A 1B7

$Steering Through Time Lecture Series #2 Robert Turner \u2013 Those Amazing Klondike Gold Rush Steamers$

March 26th Robert Turner - "Those Amazing Klondike Gold Rush Steamers"
Aboard the historic SS Sicamous
4pm to 5pm
by donation
“In the late 1890s, GOLD was discovered near what became Dawson City in the Yukon and a mad rush followed. One of the main means of transport was a fleet of hastily-built sternwheeler steamers of a number of types. Some were prefabricated in distant places and assembled at the mouth of the Yukon River; others were assembled at Bennett Lake, part of the river’s headwaters, while many more were built in Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle and elsewhere.
Conditions on the Yukon River were tough, with rapids, sand and gravel bars, canyons and crushing ice. Many vessels were sunk or badly damaged. By the early 1900s the rush was over, but steamer navigation continued until the mid-1950s with sternwheelers that had much in common with the SS Sicamous. This is their story and we’ll also look at four heritage vessels and the remains of vessels that survive at long abandoned shipyards. Fascinating in themselves, they also provide clues to features on the surviving heritage vessels in the Yukon and British Columbia.”
**A special note regarding this particular Lecture, Robert will be doing the talk remotely but the only way for you to take part will be to be aboard the SS Sicamous!