alaska . the riverboat discovery is a tour company in fairbanks alaska which operates sternwheel riverboats on the chena and tanana rivers . riverboat discovery type family business owned by the binkley family industry tourism founded 1950 headquarters fairbanks alaska united states products river tours parent alaska riverways inc. website http www.riverboatdiscovery.com contents 1 history 2 timeline 3 present day operations 4 current fleet 5 external links 6 notes history edit the riverboat discovery business was founded in 1950 by jim binkley a former freight riverboat captain on the yukon river . 1 binkley was approached in 1950 by alaska tourism entrepreneur chuck west who expressed interest in a local river tour in fairbanks alaska and asked if binkley could provide such a service . 2 binkley initially operated a small converted missionary boat the godspeed on tours of the rivers near fairbanks . the company s first sternwheeler discovery i was built by jim binkley in his backyard in 1955 to accommodate more passengers . later more riverboats were added to the discovery fleet ; discovery ii was converted from a freighting steamboat in 1971 and discovery iii was built in 1987 at the nichols brothers boat builders shipyard on whidbey island near seattle washington . timeline edit 1898 charles m. binkley comes to alaska during the gold rush builds boats on the yukon river . 1940 jim binkley goes to work as a deckhand on the idler a 62 foot sternwheel riverboat . 1942 1945 jim binkley is employed by the army running freighting riverboats on alaska s rivers . 1950 jim binkley starts a tour business on the chena and tanana rivers using the godspeed a converted missionary boat . 1955 jim binkley builds the discovery i in his fairbanks backyard ; discovery igoes into immediate passenger service . 1956 1960 the discovery i is renovated during the winter months to accommodate more passengers . 1971 the discovery ii is built on the hull of the freighter yutana . discovery ii takes over as the riverboat discovery s primary tour vessel . 1986 1987 the discovery iii is built in whidbey island washington . discovery iii goes into passenger service on july 4 1987 taking over from discovery ii as the company s primary tour vessel . 2000 the discovery ii resumes passenger service after being mothballed for approximately 10 years for renovations . 2004 the discovery i resumes light duty operation as a vessel for special tours and charters . present day operations edit as of january 2013 all three discovery sternwheelers are still in operation . the riverboat discovery operates daily tours and occasional charters with the sternwheelers from mid may until mid september . in addition to the sternwheelers the company also operates a sizeable gift shop at the landing from which the boats depart . current fleet edit ship began service tonnage length passenger capacity passenger decks discovery i 1955 34 tons 65 feet 150 2 discovery ii 1971 180 tons 116 feet 400 3 discovery iii 1987 280 tons 156 feet 900 4 external links edit riverboat discovery official website notes edit madonna james . 1999 . alaska gold trails the pioneers . a.p. publishing fairbanks alaska . isbn 1 891733 08 7 pp. 27 28 sturgis ken . 1988 . four generations on the yukon . epicenter press fairbanks alaska . isbn 0 945397 01 1 p. 38 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title riverboat discovery & oldid 733792522 categories fairbanks alaskapaddle steamers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 august 2016 at 04 26 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view