Box 2175, Wenatchee, Washington 98801
On April 10, 1978, I received a surprise visit from veteran
riverboat man, Harlan Eggleston of Anchorage, Alaska, who recently
retired after many years of operating boats on the Snake River in
Idaho and Washington; the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon;
and the Kuskwokwein River at Anchorage.
While he was in Wenatchee, I took him down where his old
abandoned motor launch ‘Clipper’ was rusting away on the
banks of the Columbia River. After sitting there for 20 years, the
steel hull still looked like it would keep out water, but pilot
house and deck are gone.
I hate to see this old boat rust away and will try to get some
local historians interested in saving it. It was built in Lewiston,
Idaho, and used to haul mail, freight and passengers from Lewiston
to Johnson Bar on the Snake River in Idaho. Later it saw
considerable service on the Columbia River between the Dulles,
Oregon and Grand Coulee Dam, Washington.
Not many of these old ‘river rats’ are still working
here in the Pacific Northwest, so it was a pleasure to meet Harlan.
He has promised to come back for another visit.