S.S. Keno, Dawson, Yukon

Located in Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in traditional territory, S.S. Keno was one of a fleet of riverboats that played an important role in the history of the Yukon Territory. From the 1890s to the 1950s, riverboats provided vital transport along the Yukon River and its tributaries. S.S. Keno is a sternwheeler – a boat propelled by a paddle wheel at the stern. This wood-burning, steam-powered vessel, built in 1922 by the British Yukon Navigation Company, worked mainly on the Stewart River hauling silver lead ore from the mines in the Mayo District, and returning with vital supplies. For 29 years, it navigated Yukon waterways, connecting Northerners to the outside world until modern roads extended into the interior of the territory.

Sternwheelers first began supplying fur traders and prospectors on the lower Yukon River in 1869. They were a practical craft for use on the Yukon River. For example, S.S. Keno has a shallow, two-foot draft which allowed it to navigate through shallow water and a narrow beam which allowed it to make turns around tight, narrow curves. Its stern-mounted paddle wheel allowed it to land virtually anywhere along the riverbanks and assisted it in getting off treacherous sandbars.

By the time of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-98, several transportation companies had established trading posts and used sternwheelers to supply them. These boats played an important role in the development of the Yukon by bringing in supplies and later the heavy machinery required for industrial, corporate mining. More than just carriers of people and supplies in and out of the territory, sternwheelers also supported a timber industry, contributed to the development and evolution of mining, and linked small communities along the riverbank.

The seasonal nature of steamboat operations and the development of roads, including the Alaska Highway in 1944 and the Klondike Highway in 1953, led to the decline of the steamboat era. By 1955, the remaining sternwheelers were dry-docked. S.S. Keno was moved to her present location on the waterfront in Dawson City in 1960, and where it was subsequently refurbished. Two years later, it was designated a National Historic Site as a representative example of Yukon lake and river sternwheel steamers.