Century-old, electric-powered Chief Uncus tour boat is launched into the Susquehanna River
A nautical journey that began with Susquehanna National Heritage Area board members visiting a 109-year-old electric boat a state away in late 2019, culminated last Wednesday with members cruising in it on the Susquehanna River for the first time.
It took about four hours for a 125-ton crane to lower 19,000 pounds of boat and cradle into the Susquehanna after it was trucked from a storage area near Marietta in Lancaster County. The wooden boat had previously made the trip to Marietta by truck from Cooperstown, N.Y., and was kept in storage and updated over the winter.
Using a large sling, the cradle and boat were lifted from the truck trailer and slowly lowered into the flooded part of a boat ramp at Long Level in Lower Windsor Township, York County. A backhoe was used to push the cradle into deeper water, where the Chief Uncus could float and be pulled off the cradle by a small motor boat.
After some tweaking of the boat’s systems, the launch made its first journey north on the Susquehanna to its new dock at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage.
Read about:How does an electric-powered, century-old boat for Susquehanna River tours work?
The Susquehanna National Heritage Area organization, which works to develop the region as a "destination for outdoor fun and cultural discovery," bought the 1912 Elco Electric Motor Launch to replace a pontoon boat for its popular River Discovery Boat Tours. On those tours, visitors learn about the history and culture of the river.
The boat originally was produced for Adolphus Busch, co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch beer dynasty, after a 1910 gas-powered Elco caught fire. Busch specifically wanted an electric boat because he thought it would be safer.
Now, fitted with new batteries, the boat is capable of running for eight hours before it needs charging. It offers a different experience of moving along the river with just the sound of water rushing past the boat.
According to Mark Platts, president of the heritage area group, tours are expected to begin later this summer once the boat is certified as a passenger vessel by the U.S. Coast Guard.
An excited Platts commented during the first run: “Once we started floating…it’s no longer a project (of something that’s going to be)...we’re floating! I can’t wait to share it with people."
Tickets for one-hour tours will be $20 for adults and $10 for youths (ages 5 to 17). Children ages 4 and under will be free. Tours will be offered Thursday–Sunday through early- to mid-October. They will embark from the dock at SNHA’s Zimmerman Center for Heritage, 1706 Long Level Road, near Wrightsville. More information will be posted as it develops at SusqNHA.org.
I have captured life through the lens since 1983, and am currently a visual journalist with the USAToday Network. You can reach me at pkuehnel@ydr.com.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Electric wooden tour boat, Chief Uncus, launched in Susquehanna River