Idaho is full of secrets. Secluded wilderness havens, hidden fishing spots, and even forgotten history that has become buried with the passage of time… sometimes literally.
We’ve mentioned a few of Idaho’s underwater ghost towns before (here and here), but as it turns out, Idaho’s waters are hiding a few other surprises as well. Like a historic “graveyard” beneath Lake Coeur d’Alene. Here, sunken within its watery depths are the remains of dozens of Idaho’s once-cherished steamboats, many of which have histories and names that are as lost to time as their captains and passengers. But we love digging up history, and these forgotten remains are well worth exploring.
Idaho’s steamboat era lasted from the 1870s to the mid-1930s, but were once so popular in North Idaho that nearly 30,000 people would flock to the area for day trips. These vessels would carry passengers, mail, and cargo on the placid inland waters that mark our Panhandle, up and down the St. Joe, and through St. Maries. Check it out:
In its heyday between 1878 and 1938, Lake Coeur d'Alene was home to more steamboat commerce than any other lake west of Michigan.
Dozens of pristine, scenic bays dot the shoreline while both the Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe rivers extend out into the far reaches of the landscape - quite literally the "water roads" of their time.
Advertisement
Here, where the only means of travel was by water, steamboats chugged up and down the cottonwood-shaded St. Joe River.
Heyburn State Park is an awesome place to see this river as it winds between two lakes.
In the late 1800s, not too far outside the growing city, a mining boom was underway and along with it a resurgence of timber-seekers hoping to make their fortunes off of North Idaho's white pine riches.
Eagle City and Murray especially flourished. But the water and its historic steamers weren't used just for industry - they played a role in every aspect of daily life. Weddings, parties, tourism, joyrides, even funerals. In fact, the cruise boats to St. Maries made the area so popular that within the first five to six years of the 1900s, the population of Coeur d’Alene surged from 500 to more than 8,000.
Capt. Peter Sorensen was commissioned by the military to build the first steamboat on Lake Coeur d’Alene - the Amelia Wheaton, the "first lady" of the lake, completed in 1880.
Of course, one of the most popular ships of the day was the Flyer. Sorenson - cruising about on the Wheaton, actually named most of CdA's bays as we know them today. Pictured: the Seeweewana.
Gradually, these massive boats become more and more luxurious, ending with the behemoth Georgie Oakes - the 'Titanic' of Coeur d'Alene.
A luxury covered stern-wheeler with staterooms, a restaurant and freight hauler, this massive beauty was eventually topped by the Idaho in girth, but which still came in a close second for length at 147 feet long. It had the ability to carry 1000 passengers.
Sadly, with the invention of the automobile, locals lost interest in this slower, laid-back means of water travel, just as the railroad became obsolete in the 1920s.
Each of these historic vessels endured the harsh realities of a viking-style water funeral at the end of their career: burned and sunk to the bottom of the Coeur d'Alene in a massive underwater graveyard that still remains to this day.
As part of the Fourth-of-July celebration in 1927, the Georgie Oakes was burned on the Coeur d'Alene waterfront. More than a few tears were shed as the flames consumed the vessel. As an ore hauler, freight hauler, passenger boat, and excursion steamer, she was a symbol of history on Lake Coeur d'Alene; to see her destroyed was to see the old days pass, never to be recaptured.
Other ships burned and sank by more natural means, like the Idaho, who was lost to a deck fire.
The Coeur d'Alene Press published this obituary at one such boat funeral, that of a steamer named for General Sherman and his namesake fort: "Steamer General Sherman, in the crystal waters of Coeur d'Alene lake you were christened and to her waters we consign you."
While we can't officially recommend scuba diving to see the remains of these once glorious vessels, many divers have had luck finding the wreckages and hauling up "treasures."
But for most of Idaho, this underwater graveyard is just a forgotten piece of history.
Did you know that Idaho’s own personal ‘Titanics’ have their final resting places at the bottom of Lake Coeur d’Alene?
While a few private steamboats still dot the state (a river boat in Hagerman, for instance), Idaho’s cruises and tours are still alive and well! Check out the one epic cruise labeled an “absolute must-do” in our previous article.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
