From the Whitehorse STAR, August 25, 1960.

KENO CHURNS TOWARD DAWSON

The paddle wheeler Keno was scheduled to begin churning towards Dawson City on its final voyage at 2 p.m. today. Captain Frank S. Blakely, 72, of British Columbia, was at the ship's controls and Frank Slim of Whitehorse went aboard as pilot. H.J. Breaden of Whitehorse was signed on as first mate.

After rotting six years at Whitehorse dry dock, the 613 ton sternwheeler once more headed down the Yukon River. The huge orange paddle wheel lashed the water as the Keno began its 425-mile trip toward Dawson. A crew of 12 were on board for the historic voyage, as were eight representatives of the press, radio, and television.

The trip is expected to take about three days, although the length of the voyage will depend on whether the riverboat becomes bogged on any sandbars on the way.

At Dawson City, the Keno will be beached on a river lot and preserved as a relic of the great paddlewheeler era in the Yukon.

The Keno was built in 1922 and rebuilt in 1937. She measures 160 feet long and 30 feet at the beam. To enable the ship to pass beneath the Carmacks bridge, the old wheelhouse had to be temporarily removed. The tall smoke stack was fastened on hinges, and will also be taken down at the bridge.

Skipper Blakley said it was his first trip down the Yukon River, although he has traveled the Mackenzie, Tagish and Columbia Rivers. On the lower Columbia, Mr. Blakley owns his own sternwheeler which he uses for pleasure cruises. The ship is called the Radium and measures 70 feet. However, he has not been the Captain of a craft as large as the Keno since 1914, when he was skipper of the Armstrong on the Upper Columbia River.

KENO LOG

August 25 - The Keno left Whitehorse at 2:25 p.m., with two thousand people waving bon voyage from the shore of the Yukon River. The first meal aboard ship, consisting of tins of spaghetti and canned potatoes, was served at 7 p.m. At 10 p.m. the boat pulled into shore at Lower Laberge for overnight mooring, 59 miles from Whitehorse, aside the skeleton hull of the first Casca.

August 26 - The paddle wheeler swept past Little Salmon at 3:30 p.m. and moored for the night just above Carmacks at 6 p.m.

August 27 - After dismantling the huge smokestack and sawing down the boom, the Keno slipped under the Carmacks bridge at 11:20 a.m. with only a foot and a half to spare. The paddlewheeler shot through the rapids of Five Fingers at 3:45 p.m. then the Rink Rapids at 4:15 p.m.

At 6 p.m. the keel ran aground a gravel bar at Slack Water Crossing on the Minto Flats. It took the crew until 9:29 p.m. to winch the sternwheeler free. The Keno was moored about half a mile down the river for the night.

August 28 - The gangplank was pulled in at 10 a.m. and by noon the Keno reached Fort Selkirk where passengers and crew scrambled through the old buildings searching for relics and picture subjects. The night was spent moored at White River.

August 29 - The Keno passed the mouth of the Stewart River at 8 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., as the paddlewheeler approached Dead Man Island a sour gray fog began to roll over the mountain, coupled with a drizzle of rain. At 1:35 p.m. the Keno was secure on the shore of Dawson City, and the paddle wheeler had ended its final voyage.