Huntington residents who formed the Snake River Rose LLC have raised

more than $30,000 in their quest to buy the Sternwheeler Rose and move

the vessel from Portland to Huntington and Brownlee Reservoir as a

regional tourist attraction.

The current skipper, Captain Paul Simonis, has agreed to pilot the 80-foot-long, 98-ton sternwheeler for the association.

“It’s all about developing tourism in Huntington and Baker County. It falls under the Base Camp Baker model of promoting business and expanding business, especially as it pertains to tourism,” said Andrew Bryan, marketing manager for the county’s transient lodging tax committee.

Bryan said the plan is to move the Sternwheeler Rose from its current operating base on the Willamette and Columbia River in and around Portland to Baker County.

Here the boat, renamed “Snake River Rose,” would ply Brownlee Reservoir between Huntington on the south, and Hewitt and Holcomb parks on the reservoir’s Powder River arm just east of Richland.

“There’s county parks on both ends,” Bryan said.

To raise money to buy the sternwheeler for $170,000 – less than half the estimated $450,000 cost to build a similar boat -Bryan said Huntington residents led by Steve Stacy formed the Snake River Rose LLC, which is selling a total of 800 shares at $250 each.

The plan calls for that group to buy the sternwheeler and lease it to the non-profit Snake River Sternwheeler Association, which will have the responsibility of transporting the vessel from Portland to Huntington, where the association will offer river cruises.

Bill Burley of Huntington, manager of the Sternwheeler Association, is credited with devising the plan.

Two years ago Burley was researching Huntington history when he came across a story about a sternwheeler named Norma built in 1895 as a business venture for Albert Kleinschmidt of Weiser and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company in Huntington.

Norma’s purpose was to haul ore from mines on a 60-mile run from Huntington’s railroad connection down the Snake River – which was undammed then – to Seven Devils Landing.

After discovering the area’s sternwheeler history, Burley envisioned the possibility of bringing one of those magnificent paddle boats back to the Snake River to haul tourists instead of ore.

The Sternwheeler Rose was built in Bandon in 1987 as a replica of the paddlewheel boats that operated in the Columbia and Snake rivers in the late 19th century.

“This organization is about promoting the whole Northeastern region of Oregon, not just Huntington,” Stacy said. “This is not about what the community can do for us, it’s about what we can do for them.”

“Our plan for the future, once we get the sternwheeler running on the river, is to promote the Northeastern region by offering vacation packages that direct people booking cruises to area lodging, restaurants, businesses and other recreational opportunities,” Stacy said.

“Everything we do is about bringing back the old times, and creating an old time experience, so people who come here can experience what it was like from the 1850s to the early 1900s when pioneers were developing the area,” he said.

Bryan believes the success of the Base Camp Baker marketing strategy depends in part on the development of tourist attractions all around Baker County, from Baker City’s historic downtown district to the Elkhorn Mountains, Blue Mountain Heritage Trail, Ski Anthony Lakes resort, Sumpter and the Sumpter Valley Railroad, Halfway, the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and other potential attractions, including some dude ranches, a cowboys museum that’s been discussed between Baker City and the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, as well as talk of a railroad museum in Huntington.

Stacy said the drive to bring the Sternwheeler Rose to the Snake River is attracting interest from people from Boise, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Portland and beyond.

More information about the sternwheeler project is available by calling Burley at 519-0400.