Pathfinder (Bowboat/Rafter, 1898-ca.1915)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Bowboat/Rafter
• BUILT: 1898 at Clinton, Iowa
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Sometime after 1915, while she was moored, a sand bar formed under her stern; when the river fell she was caught on the bar and broke in two
• OWNERS: Captain George Winans; After 1915: Buchanan Sand & Supply Company
• RIVERS: Mississippi River; St. Croix River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T2003; The Pathfinder was a bowboat for lumber rafters such as the Saturn and the Ottumwa Belle. At this point in time the rafting business was in decline and in August, 1915, the Pathfinder left Stillwater, Minnesota on the St. Croix River operating as bowboat for the Ottumwa Belle. This was the last lumber raft on the Mississippi River
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Pathfinder operating as bowboat for a rafter with a large supply of lumber