Alaska women work to save historic riverboat

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Two Alaska women have teamed up to launch a nonprofit to renovate the SS Nenana, a National Historic Landmark.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports retired bookkeeper Patricia De Nardo Schmidt and fellow history buff Jeannie Creamer-Dalton, a retired secretary, are getting the paperwork together for the nonprofit in hopes of building on the history of the sternwheel riverboat that was built in 1933 and has been out of service since 1957.

The women are getting help from Nancy Williams, whose late husband, Jack, led an effort 30 years ago to restore the vessel, which has been called the Queen of the Yukon.

They are looking to get a marine engineer to evaluate the condition of the paddlewheeler. A previous report says the decaying boat has extensive leaks and the wood is deteriorating.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

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