Robert Campbell Highway

Km 555.3 - The Columbian Disaster

The worst accident in the history of the territory's riverboat travel occurred here at Eagle Rock, on the Yukon River. In September 1906, the sternwheeler "Columbian" exploded and burned, killing five men and badly burning another. The steamer was carrying a crew of 25 men and a full cargo, including cattle and three tons of blasting powder destined for the Tantalus butte coal mine, 30 miles downriver.

The fire started when Phil Murray, the deckhand, showed his loaded gun to Edward Morgan. Morgan, ironically, the fireman on watch, accidently fired the weapon into a load of blasting powder stored on deck. The powder exploded and a sheet of flame swept the boat.

Captain J. O. Williams was protected in the wheel house, but could not work the steering or communicate with the engine room. He raced down to the freight deck and told the engineer to stop the engines. As they headed into a bend in the river, he ordered the engines started again to ram the bank. After the bow hit, j stern swung around in the current and Williams ordered full astern to back the vessel up on the shore. His quick thinking allowed the crew to jump ashore and prevented the disaster from being much worse.

“The explosion blew out the sides of the vessel, scattered men and cargo in the water, and in less than five minutes had involved the whole inside of the ship in a mass of seething flame.”
(Dawson Daily News, Sept. 26, 1906)

Ts'àl Cho Awn

A prominent feature on the Yukon River is Eagle Rock, named by the coastal Chilkat traders. The Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation people call it Ts'àl cho awn, giant frog's den. According to Little Salmon-Carmack's legend, travellers would lie down quietly on their rafts when they passed by, so the frog would not jump up and tip the raft over.

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