In Mayo, Yukon, rebuilding a ship with time and love
'It is the original hull, the original wood, the original everything'
For the past eight years Marc Johnston has been working to restore an old boat from the 1920s that sat rotting in obscurity for decades.
Though not as well known as some other Yukon boats of its time — like the SS Klondike, the Tutshi and the Casca — the Loon has a history, as both a workhorse and a party boat.
Seeing it restored and put back on the water is a project the Silver Trail Tourism Association has taken to heart. The association is working closely with Johnston, the contractor, to see the boat put back in the water.
"It's a long and twisted journey," said Johnston.
The boat was built by the White Pass company in Whitehorse in 1923, originally as a sternwheeler, he said, and later became a jet boat of sorts.
"Whenever the boat was needed to do a work project, building a dam or rescuing a wreck or salvaging parts, they would put 20 to 25 people on it and go."
In later years the boat had other uses. "It was used as a party boat during the war for the American military."
In the 1940s and 1950s the Loon was based in Mayo.
It's a slow process and there's much more work to be done.
"A couple of years away yet," said Johnston, noting there's a limited window when restoration work can happen. "Wood doesn't bend so well at -40 C."
Johnston intends to work carefully.
"It is the original hull, the original wood, the original everything. Whenever I find a little bit of rot I cut it out, instead of replacing the plank we just replace the little piece that is necessary."
A Yukon love story
When the Silver Trail Tourism Association starting looking for the Loon almost a decade ago, Anne Leckie was one of the board members involved.
"Silver Trail was looking for the boat," she said, and once it was found near Whitehorse they needed a place to put it in Mayo.
"So they ended up putting it at my house."
The project turned into more than just a boat restoration for she and Johnston.
"We're a Yukon love story," she said laughing. "We ended up working on the boat here and we ended up together."
Hitting the water
What exactly will happen to the boat once the restoration work is complete is unclear but Leckie says the tourism association decided a long time ago they wanted it to be back on the water.
"We don't want to see it just sit there," she said.
"We hope that an interest group like NND [First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun] or Selkirk First Nation will come along and want to use it to access a historic site, like the old village or Fort Selkirk, and that it will be river-worthy and will ply the river once again."