Monday, July 18, 2016

Glacier NP: Historic Boats

Beautiful historic wooden boats take visitors across six major lakes in Glacier NP and Waterton Lakes NP in Canada: Two Medicine Lake, Saint Mary Lake, Swiftcurrent Lake, Lake Josephine, McDonald Lake, and Upper Waterton Lake in Alberta.

This is Sinopah, built in 1926 and the oldest boat of the Glacier Park Boat Company's fleet, on Two Medicine Lake.

Glacier Park Boat Company began in 1938 and has been operated by the Burch family since. They acquired some boats from an earlier builder and entrepreneur, and built others themselves. There are boathouses at each lake where the boats are stored over the winter and receive spring and fall maintenance.

"It is of historic note that most of the boat houses build for these tour boats were designed and constructed with the specific boat in mind. Each fall, these boats are lifted on a cradle and track system and moved into the boat house. The doors are then closed tightly for protection from the winter months. Every spring we come back to do it all over again in the spirit of those boat men and women who got it all started." [From the History section of the highlighted link above.]

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