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Riverboat Discovery

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Riverboat Discovery - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler Cruise in Fairbanks

Get a taste of the colorful history and cultural traditions in the great interior region of alaska..

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Home » City-Based Day Tours » Fairbanks » Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler Cruise in Fairbanks

Day Tour Details

What's included:.

• Narrated tour onboard the Riverboat Discovery III
• All taxes and fees

What's Not Included:

Meals and transfers to and from your hotel.

Riverboat Discovery Cruise Experience: Take a Video Tour:

Dates & Rates

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Thank you for your interest in this tour! At this time, it is not currently available to book online. Please feel free to continue to peruse our website for more Alaska travel ideas. If you would like options and information from our team of Alaska experts, please call 1-866-317-3325 or fill out the form below.

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We had an amazing trip, Alaska Tours did a great job of setting this up for us. We decided on the railroad trip and we were not disappointed. I would highly recommend going this way, we went from Anchorage to Seward and up to Fairbanks.

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• Riverboat Discovery Cruise Fairbanks

Climb aboard a classic Chena River sternwheeler to experience the living history of Fairbanks, Alaska.

• Things to Do in Fairbanks

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Rates & dates, departure times, availability.

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For decades, riverboats like the Discovery III sternwheeler ran the big rivers of Alaska's interior. They hauled freight and passengers, linked distant communities and helped build new ones. Today the boat takes visitors on a unique tour to explore that history and see firsthand some of Alaska's quintessential pastimes.

Experience some of Alaska's quintessential pastimes.

The stately Discovery III has three decks with comfortable indoor seating, and a fourth top deck with open-air seating. The large red paddlewheel splashing at the stern propels the boat on its journey down the Chena River. It's right on the water shortly after leaving Steamboat Landing that guests see their first Alaskan demo. A bushplane on floats takes off alongside the boat, banking in a long arc until it loops back and lands again. The pilot talks about the wild life of bush flying in Alaska before the boat continues downstream. The next stop is an exuberant sled dog demo at the riverside kennels of late four-time Iditarod musher Susan Butcher.

Upon reaching the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers, guests disembark for a walking tour of a Chena Indian Village. Native Alaskan guides lead groups to see spruce cabins, caches, smokehouses, and crafts created by Athabascans native to interior Alaska. After spending time further exploring the village on their own, guests board the boat for a return ride up the Chena River.

The Riverboat Discovery Cruise includes a bush plane demo, sled dog demo, and Chena Indian Village tour. There is a small giftshop and galley selling snacks, drinks, ice cream, and hearty lunch boxes on the boat. The tour returns to the Steamboat Landing where guests can visit the Discovery Trading Post, the largest Alaskan souvenir shop in Fairbanks .

What to Bring

Wear comfortable clothes and dress in layers. Most of the tour is conducted outside, so bring a light coat or rain jacket if necessary.

Special Instructions

Guests must check in at the Steamboat Landing station at least 30 minutes prior to the tour departure to exchange their voucher for a boarding pass.

Transfers & Meeting Points

The Riverboat Discovery Cruise is just five minutes from the Fairbanks airport and 20 minutes from downtown Fairbanks. Many local hotels offer shuttles to the Riverboat Discovery. Guests must coordinate their own transportation to the tour.

Riverboat Discovery Cruise 1975 Discovery Drive Fairbanks, Alaska 99709

Here are the rates and operating dates for this product. Remember, we have a lowest price guarantee for nearly everything we sell.

Child rates apply to children under the age of 13. Infants under the age of 2 may travel for free but must sit on an adult's lap.

Departure times and locations are listed below. Click on a link for an interactive map.

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With the 2021 summer season still taking shape, some tour providers may not yet have their operating dates set. Availability on AlaskaTravel.com reflects the most current information and is updated daily. Please contact us if you have questions about this tour.

Select a departure below to see current availability. If your desired date is sold out (red) we will do our best to find an alternative, but we may not be able to accommodate your request.

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Quick Facts

• Duration 3 Hours
• Options AM, PM
• Operating Dates Daily from 6/1/2024 to 8/31/2024
• Activity Level Less Active

What's Included

• Guided tour through an Athabascan village.
• Passage on a classic sternwheeler riverboat.
• Bush plane and sled dog demonstrations.
• Complimentary coffee and fresh donuts.

Guest Feedback

"We loved this! They made what might look like an ordinary river come alive! This was in our "Top 3 Attractions" list!"

~Ron from Illinois~

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Fairbanks Sightseeing Tours

Riverboat Discovery Cruise & Gold Dredge 8 Combo

Approximately 7 3/4 hours

May 15 -September 15

Adult - $159.95

Child - $138.95

• Easy Activity Level
• Meal Provided
• Wheelchair Accessible

Board the only remaining authentic Alaska sternwheeler for a cruise along the Chena and Tanana rivers in Chena River State Recreation Area. During this narrated cruise, you will witness the unique line where the clear waters of the Chena meet the Tanana, the world’s greatest glacier river carrying tons of glacial silt from the Alaska Range. Your next adventure carries you to the home of Dave Monson and the late Susan Butcher, four-time Iditarod champion. Here, you will meet their winning sled dogs and witness a sled-dog demonstration. From there, continue on to the Old Chena Indian Village and disembark for a glimpse into local life and history. Native guides will take you on a tour of an Athabascan Indian village, a spruce bark hut and trapper’s cabin made of spruce logs. Next, board a train to visit the Gold Dredge 8, a National Historic Monument! Local miners will give a brief course in mining, then you can try panning for yourself. You will find gold — we guarantee it! Finally, explore the dredge camp and visit the gift shop, where you can have your gold weighed and find out the dollar value based on the current market price. Turn your gold into a memorable keepsake before boarding the train for the return back to the station.

This tour can be booked in conjunction with a Gray Line Alaska package or on its own. To book this tour, please call 1-888-425-1737.

RiverBoat Discovery Information

DINING OPTIONS

We have various dining options on Steamboat Landing and Discovery III:

CHENA VILLAGE LIVING MUSEUM

Be immersed in frontier living first hand with a guided walking tour of an Athabascan village. You’ll see an Athabascan  village with cabins made of spruce logs, a cache used for storing supplies, a primitive spruce bark hut and fur pelts. Our guides will explain how the wolf, fox, martin and beaver were used to provide food and protection in the harsh Arctic climate. They will also share how the Athabascans skillfully survived for over 10,000 years and how they adapted to village life and Western culture in the past century.

At the end of your guided tour, you will have time to explore the village on your own, interact with our guides and visit dogs from Susan Butcher’s Trail Breaker Kennel.

INTERNATIONAL SCRIPTS

A family business

The Binkley family’s steamboating tradition goes back over 100 years and five generations. In 1898, when Charles M. Binkley hiked over the Chilkoot Pass with other stampeders, he was not so much in search of gold as he was the chance to build and operate boats on the Yukon and its tributaries. He became a respected pilot and boat builder in the North. His son, Captain Jim Binkley, Sr., followed in his father’s footsteps and piloted freight vessels on the Yukon and Tanana Rivers in the 1940's.

As transportation systems changed in the north, railroads and airplanes began to carry much of the freight. In 1950, noting the coming changes in the freighting business, Captain Jim and his wife, Mary, began a river excursion business focusing on sharing their love of Alaska and its culture with visitors. Over the coming years, Captain Jim and Mary B’s business grew from the Godspeed, a 25 passenger vessel, to the Discovery III, a 900 passenger vessel. Today, Captain Jim’s grandchildren run the company and Mary B is still active in the business.

In addition to growing their sternwheel business, the Binkley’s have added a gold mining attraction: Gold Dredge 8. The family has developed a tour in the heart of the gold fields where the first gold strikes attracted miners from the Klondike. They have incorporated large scale industrial mining and the smaller 'Mom and Pop' side of mining into an all-encompassing tour that also features the Trans Alaska Pipeline and a replica of the Tanana Valley Railroad.

1975 Discovery Drive Fairbanks, AK 99709

1-866-479-6673

907-479-6673

[email protected]

Gold Dredge 8

Captain Jim's Salmon

Adventure Green Alaska

Alaska Travel Industry Association

Explore Fairbanks

PVA Green Waters

Trip Advisor

Trail Breaker Kennel

Destinations Detours and Dreams

Cruising Through Alaska History and Culture Aboard a Sternwheeler

Riverboat Discovery excursion along the Chena River in Fairbanks, Alaska

(Disclosure: Thanks to Explore Fairbanks for hosting my stay in Fairbanks. Observations and opinions, as always, are my own.)

Staff stand on the dock at Steamboat Landing in Fairbanks, Alaska and wave at us as we sail away on the sternwheeler Riverboat Discovery for a 3-hour narrated cruise along the Chena River.

A sternwheeler is a ship propelled by a paddle wheel positioned at the stern. Sternwheelers played a major transportation and freight role in Alaska in the late 1800s and first part of the 1900s. At one time there were 250 sternwheelers on Alaska rivers, 91 on the Chena. Powered by wood furnaces, they would use one cord of wood an hour. The current Riverboat Discovery is a tourist excursion boat powered by diesel, but it has a strong connection with the past.

The boat is owned and operated by descendants of Charles M. Binkley, who started building and piloting boats in the North in 1898. In the 1950s, with railroads and airplanes beginning to carry most of the freight, his son Captain Jim Binkley Sr. and his wife Mary started a river excursion business. It was their granddaughter piloting the Riverboat Discovery the day of my cruise.

Float Plane

Bush planes, landing with floats on the water in summer and with skis on snow in winter, were and still are another important transportation vehicle in the North. Shortly after leaving the dock, we were treated to a demonstration of a float plane taking off and landing.

Trail Breaker Kennel

Before the use of snow mobiles, called “snow machines” in Alaska, dogsledding was a common method of winter travel used by indigenous peoples and early European settlers and trappers. Although dog teams are no longer used much for travel or moving goods, dogsledding has become a popular winter sport. The Iditarod dogsled race, which was created in the 1970s partly to save dog sled culture, has contributed to its popularity. The race runs between Anchorage and Nome. The more grueling Yukon Quest, which runs between Whitehouse in Canada’s Yukon and Fairbanks, started in 1984.

Susan Butcher was a four-time Iditarod race winner, winning her first race in 1986 and winning again in 1987, 1988, and 1990. She passed away in 2006, but her family still operates Trail Breaker Kennel, one of the longest operating kennels in Fairbanks where visitors experience the Alaskan mushing lifestyle. We paused at the banks of the kennel to see some of the dogs and learn about dog sledding from Susan’s husband.

Chena Village

The only place where we stopped and disembarked on the cruise was at a recreated Chena Athabascan Indian Village from the early 1900s. Captain Jim Binkley Sr. supplied villages like this by sternwheeler from the late 1930s through the 1950s. Guides at Chena Village explained how various animals were used for food and protection (clothing and shelter), how Athabascans survived nomadic life and how they adjusted to village life. Dogs from Susan Butcher’s kennels were also on site for those who wanted to get closer to the animals and learn more about them.

On The River

As we cruised the river, we passed a variety of log cabins, old and new, large and small, on properties along the shore. We saw a herd of caribou (a planned sighting as this is a domestic herd) and a bald eagle along the shore (unplanned sighting).

We turned around at the point where the Chena River joins the Tanana River. The Tanana River is a 584-mile tributary of the Yukon River. The Tanana River is a braided river, something I’d not heard of until I visited Alaska. A braided river consists of a network of river channels that continually split and join and are separated by small and often temporary islands. Braided rivers are typically wide and shallow and carry a lot of sediment.

Steamboat Landing

At Steamboat Landing, where the Riverboat Discovery docks and sets sail from, you’ll find a gift shop and Discovery Dining Hall, where a hearty lunch of miner’s stew, rustic roasted vegetables, apple pecan salad, sourdough rolls and a brownie is served family style at long tables.

Here you’ll also find the Alaska @ 40 Below Experience, where you have a chance to enter a specially designed chamber to experience what -40 degree temperatures feel like. I did not join the line-up for what looked like the entrance to the locker plant at the butcher shop in my childhood hometown, where my family rented a locker to store frozen vegetables and sides of meat before we had our own freezer. (The inside of that locker was actually many degrees warmer than -40.) Coming from a place with cold winters, I’ve lived through -40 degree temperatures in real life and preferred to remain in the hot summer temperatures, so I passed on the Alaska @ 40 Below Experience. However, even the idea of temperatures that cold must seem unfathomable to people who’ve lived their lives in warm climates or have not experienced temperatures much below freezing. I can understand wanting to know what it feels like.

The Riverboat Discovery sails twice a day from early May through mid-September. It is an excursion well worth taking should you visit Fairbanks in the summer.

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A step back in time. (Or at least until you hit the gift shop part.) Looks like a great way to spend the day, scenic and relaxing.

Ken, the Riverboat Discovery is well worth doing when in Fairbanks. It is both a step back in time and a modern-day experience.

I’ll never forget the thrill of taking a cruise a few years ago on a paddleboat down the Mississippi and your ride on the ‘Riverboat Discovery’ looks just as memorable. I loved learning about the history of the sternwheeler ships as well as more about the dogsled races. And … oh that gorgeous fur parka!! Anita

Anita, that parka was special. It was made of some many different furs I couldn’t remember them all, with specific ones selected for right around the face because of their insulating quality and handling of moisture. I also don’t remember how much it weighed, but it wasn’t light!

Wow, this palace looks amazing. Your images is lively with the nice captions.

Thanks William, and thanks for stopping by.

Riverboat Discovery Cruise & Gold Dredge 8 Combo

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Description

Be sure to read the Special Notes further down this page for important requirements and restriction.

Enjoy a cruise on the Chena and Tanana rivers aboard an authentic sternwheeler and watch a bush pilot takeoff and land on the surface of the Chena River in a float plane. Along the way you'll make a stop at the home of a late four-time Iditarod champion, meet some winning sled dogs and witness a dog sled demonstration. Next, you'll disembark the sternwheeler for a guided tour through a replication of an Athabascan Indian village, where you will learn in depth about Native Alaskan village life. Next you are off to Gold Dredge 8! Enjoy a close up view of the Trans Alaska pipeline and a presentation about the history and operation of the pipeline before boarding the train that will take you to Gold Dredge 8 where you will see first hand how the dredge worked the gold fields. You will find gold - we guarantee it!

Special Notes:

25% off children ages 4-12, and free for 3 and under.

Schedule for 2002

Greatland River Tours. Reserve by calling (907) 452-tour (8687) or email them at [email protected] . Hoselton Road (turn off Airport Way at Pikes Landing)

Sternwheeler Riverboat Tour, Fairbanks

3.5 hours | May-Sep

Introduction

Boarding the Riverboat Discovery for an unforgettable journey into the history of Alaska’s Interior, this journey carries passengers along the Chena and Tanana Rivers on the only authentic sternwheeler riverboat still operating in Alaska.

A guided cruise which focuses on the area’s human and natural history, you will hear incredible stories of the native Athabascans who made this area home for so long. You will watch a floatplane, something which has become an icon of modern northern exploration, as it takes off, meet the hard working sled dogs and gain insights into the incredible Athabascan culture with a personalized tour of the Chena Indian Village.

You will also witness the strange phenomenon of the ‘wedding of the rivers’, where the clear waters of the Chena River merge with the silt-laden Tanana, creating clouds of silt rising and falling, churning and mixing as the two mighty rivers join.

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Sternwheeler Riverboat Tour

Board an authentic sternwheeler riverboat for a cruise on the Chena and Tanana Rivers. This three hour tour will take you into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for four generations.

You will see a bush plane taking off from a grass runway, witness the "wedding of the rivers", and gain an insight into the ancient Athabascan native culture. Native Alaskan guides who have worked and lived in Alaska will take you on a personal tour of the Chena Indian Village.

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