Yukon who is who

George Raabe (1852 - 1929)

George Raabe was born in Norway and moved to California with his parents in 1866, and then to Oregon two years later. He went to work for the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. He was the captain of the steamer Old McMinnville and later supervised the construction of the William H. Hoag. In 1880, he built the Salem and then commanded the Multnoma.¹⁾ He ran the steamers on the Columbia and Williamette rivers, sailing out of Portland, Oregon and was one of the most skilled pilots on the inland waters.²⁾

Captain Raabe went north from Puget Sound in 1898, worked for a year as a pilot on the Stikine River, and then began a career on the Yukon River.³⁾ The White Pass & Yukon Route records show that Raabe joined the company twice, on October 29, 1903 and again in 1916.⁴⁾

In September 1906, Raabe was the captain of the sternwheeler Dawson when the Columbian exploded and burned near Eagle Rock. The Columbian was carrying a crew of twenty-five men, a full cargo including cattle, and three tons of blasting powder destined for the Tantalus coal mine, forty-eight km downstream. Six men were killed in the explosion. The fireman, Edward Morgan, who had tripped and accidently sent a rifle shot into the blasting powder, and the mate, Joe Walsh, were killed instantly. Carl Christianson, Phil Murray, and John Woods died before help arrived, and Lionel Cadogan Cowper died after several days. Joe Welsh’s body was thrown into the water and was found two months later, but Edward Morgan’s body was never found. The closest telegraph office was at Tantalus, and after the call was received in Whitehorse the steamer Dawson was sent out with a doctor and nurses on board.⁵⁾

Captain Raabe took the Dawson through the twisty Thirtymile stretch of the Yukon River in a record breaking hour and forty-five minutes. This was the first time the Thirtymile had been run without a stop-bell.⁶⁾ The Dawson took the survivors on board and returned to Whitehorse the next day.⁷⁾ A slough just downstream from Eagle’s Rock came to be called Raabe's Slough.⁸⁾

Many of the men who worked on the Yukon River in the summers returned to the south for the winters. Raabe bought a house in Portland from the estate of a prominent East Portland doctor in 1900, and he lived in the house until 1907. The Capt. George Raabe House is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.⁹⁾