b'style that he loved operating during his early days on theThe project was beyond the scope of what they could do river. Built in his backyard, Discovery I started as a 50-pas- themselves, and the new vessel was built by fellow PVA senger vessel, but over the years, Jim expanded it. He cut itmemberNicholsBrothersBoatBuildersinWashington. in half and lengthened it twice and widened it once, grow- The900-passengersternwheelerwaspurposebuiltfor ing it to a 150-passenger ship.sightseeingonAlaskasChenaRiver.Agreatexperience forfamilywastransportingthevesselfromWashington During the years that the business expanded, so did thetoFairbanks.ThevesselwastowedthroughtheInside family as Jim and Mary had a total of four children. ThePassage, across the Gulf of Alaska, around Western Alaska, children grew up learning to operate the vessel, helpingand through the Bering Sea to the mouth of the Yukon Riv-to plan the program, and running the retail aspect of theer. From there, the vessel traveled under its own power the business. It was a slow, organic growth over the years.more than thousand miles remaining up the Yukon River to the Tanana River and finally up the Chena River to its Eventually, they outgrew Discovery I and Jim purchasednew home in Fairbanks. an old barge in the late 1960s. He stripped it down to only the hull on which he built Discovery II. By the early 1970s,That was my grandfathers old route, Wade explained. It this second sternwheeler was in service, coinciding withwas really neat for us as a company, over 30 years later, to the arrival of larger cruise companies and the blossominghave a sternwheeler traveling the Yukon River again. The of Alaska cruising. Throughout the late 70s and early 80s,vessel made stops at villages along the way, giving rides to the company saw significant growth and was operatingpeople at each stop. Since then, Discovery III has been a two or three trips a day to keep up with demand until fi- workhorse. Its coming up on 40 years old and its still op-nally, in 1987, they commissioned Discovery III.erating every single day.Kohler Marine is nowFrom 6 to 200kWAvailable with or without enclosures 6 to 200kWAvailable from AvailableAvailable 20 to 175kW 6 to 200kW 6 to 200kWFor global support, contact John McKinnon at 770-601-6880 or john.mckinnon@kohler.com*Products shown are not to scale25 MAY 2025'