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 The Flyer - Coeur D'Alene, ID Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 47° 40.468 W 116° 47.226
11T E 515981 N 5280141
Down by the Lake in Coeur d'Alene, the Museum of North Idaho is well situated for tourists who will quite likely be in the area anyhow.
Waymark Code: WMX8A9
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 12/11/2017
Views: 1
The museum's location by Coeur d'Alene Lake is highly appropriate as in years past the city depended on their lake for transportation, employment and entertainment. Beginning around 1878 the waters of the lake were, for several decades, plied by a fleet of steam boats which carried the stuff of commerce up and down the lake through the week and tourists on the weekends.
In front of the museum, near the entrance, is the screw of The Flyer, recovered at an unknown date by Tom Michelski. Beside it, against the building, are the remains of the paddlewheel of another, older steamship which also sailed Coeur d'Alene Lake. The Flyer, a 130 foot screw driven steamer, was put into service on the lake about 1906. It continued to run up and down Coeur d'Alene Lake until it became superfluous to its owners, then Potlatch Forests, in 1938. At that time The Flyer, along with her sister ship, The Clipper, was burned on the lake, their hulls, we assume, still resting on the bottom. One of three beautifully built and highly detailed replicas of the old Coeur d'Alene Lake steamers, there is a replica of The Flyer inside the museum.
In spite of difficulties and rivalry, the White Star Navigation Company grew. They bought from Carscellan Brothers the freight boat Telephone. In 1906 they added the one-hundred-and-thirty-foot Flyer. And in 1908, when the Northern Pacific condemned the old Georgie Oakes as unseaworthy, they bought her cheap, and, expending $10,000 for repairs and renovation, made practically a new boat of her. The Flyer was built by Johnson, and it was generally agreed that she was his masterpiece" (pp. 147-148).
"The Flyer, under the captainship of Claude Barnes, continued to run to St. Maries until 1935. For some years she made two trips weekly and a Sunday excursion trip. Finally she made Sunday trips only. In 1938, Potlatch forests, owners of both the Flyer and the Clipper, decided they had no further use for the two boats and deliberately burned them on the lake.
Steamboats made it possible for people to have easy access to the area around Coeur d'Alene Lake and its interior in a time when there were few roads and no highways. By 1910, there were more than 40 large steamboats on Lake Coeur d'Alene. During weekdays the steamboats carried freight, mail, businessmen and lumberjacks to communities, rail lines and mills on the lake and up the rivers. On Sundays, excursion boats carried passengers on pleasure trips.
The Red Collar Line and the White Star Navigation Company controlled the steamboat business on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Steamboat transportation peaked in about 1915 when the automobile was gaining popularity and railroads were well established. Steamboats continued to operate into the late 1930s but the grandeur of those early years was gone.
From the Museum of Idaho
Where is original located?: At the bottom of Coeur d'Alene Lake
Where is this replica located?: Within the Museum of North Idaho
Who created the original?: Johnson of Sorensen and Johnson, built on Sanders Beach
Internet Link about Original: http://www.steamboats.com/museum/idaho.html
Year Original was Created (approx. ok): 1906
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Visit Instructions:
Post at least one photo of the replica.
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