Photo by Cliff West
The Queen of the West was built in 1995 by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Washington for the American West Steamboat Company for overnight river cruises on the Columbia and Snake rivers. It was the first overnight passenger sternwheeler to be built and operated in the West in 80 years.
Photo by Cliff West
It is 232 feet long and 50 feet wide with
draft of 7 feet. With two 1,750-horsepower MTU 12V396 diesel engines and two
500-kiliowatt auxiliary engines driving its 26-foot, three-story paddlewheel
through a hydraulic propulsion system using biodegradable hydraulic oil, it has
a average speed of 12 knots. It had four decks and could carry up to 167
passengers. A 45-foot bow ramp allows passenger to go ashore anywhere along the
river. It is shown here on two different trips on the Columbia River at Rainier, Oregon in the summer of 2002.
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