Fairbanks Discovery River Cruise

River's Edge RV Park beside the Chena River proved to be the ideal location for pitching our tent for the next three days. We prepared our first meal with our new, one-burner Coleman stove. We spent the next afternoon on a stern-wheeler, Discovery III, and churned up the Chena and Tanana Rivers. Unlimited coffee and donuts were served as soon as we boarded. On the return trip we had a smoked salmon snack on crackers that was delicious.

We stopped up river and met the train who cares for Susan Butcher’s dogs; she was in a Seattle hospital with a rare form of Leukemia. Susan is highly respected and loved in this area, and we were sad the next day to learn of her death. She had won the Iditarod Dogsled race four times. Our river guide was friendly, shouting “hello” to people on shore that he knew. Most of them would run to the bank of the river and wave and shout back. One of our fellow passengers, Mrs. Binkley, is the widow of the founder of the boat building business and creator of the river tour. She provided a brief but interesting history of their business. Her young grandson was our Captain. Along side the river, we saw where President Reagan and Nancy stayed with friends while in Fairbanks. We also passed the official private residence of the present Governor of Alaska, a Pullman railcar.

We stopped at an Athabascan village and viewed examples of their village life. The Native Americans demonstrated their artistic gifts using leather and fur. They also do beautiful bead work. Dixie Alexander showed us how she filleted, dried and smoked salmon. Then she hopped into her ancient motor boat and sped to the village ahead of us. At the village we viewed examples of her talented work with beads, leather, and fur. One of her ceremonial dresses is on display at the University of Alaska Museum, and a fur/leather ceremonial jacket is in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum. The young women (college students) who served on the sternwheeler also acted as models for Dixie’s clothing and bead work. They were excellent spokespeople for their Alaskan/Athabascan heritage and told us about their families, hopes, and dreams.