Paddlewheel Graveyard

Scuttled inconspicuously off the side of the road near Dawson City, Yukon are a veritable graveyard of wooden paddlewheel boats that remember a time when the rivers were the only way to get around.

The remains of about seven historic paddlewheel boats can be found lodged in the woods on the banks of the Yukon river outside of Dawson. Formerly the primary mode of transport in the region of Dawson along the Yukon River, the boats were abandoned as overground travel became more popular. The hulking wrecks are full of broken planks and damage looking almost as though they were crashed onshore. Most of the wrecks have collapsed after years of their wooden struts rotting away, but a few of the ships are still intact enough to explore, and many of the actual paddlewheels still remain thanks to their metal skeletons.