A 1931 steamboat that served as a state park museum but sank in January cannot be salvaged, the parks department said.
The Mary Woods No. 2 was moored in an inlet of the White River at Jacksonport State Park landed on its side in roughly 20 feet of water; 5 feet of the vessel remained above the water line.
A salvage operation raised the boat from the bottom of the river, but damage proved to be extensive.
According to State Parks Director Greg Butts, estimated costs to reconstruct the vessel ranged from $1.8 million to $2.7 million.
The State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission voted in February to remove the boat from Jacksonport State Park with any proceeds from its sale to be invested in the planned park visitor center construction project. The commissioners stressed that any salvageable components be included in the center’s interpretive exhibits.
The vessel was donated to the park in 1967 by Potlatch Corporation through the efforts of the Jackson County Historical Society. Public tours of the boat began in 1976.
On March 1, 1997, a tornado cut a half-mile-wide swath through Jacksonport and the park. According to Butts, $870,000 was spent restoring the boat after the disaster.
“Arkansas State Parks and the Jackson County Historical Society are in agreement that this time the boat’s damage is beyond repair," Butts said. "The money would be better spent invested in the park’s planned visitor center rather than reconstructing the sternwheeler, especially in light of the loss of her historical elements.”
Park staff members plan to work with the tourism department to ensure the "steamboat era" remains an important part of the center.
“Knowing that the Mary Woods No. 2 was virtually beyond reasonable repair after its sinking in 2010, the Society has begun looking at alternatives to her,” Plegge emphasized. “We look forward to working creatively with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, as we have done for many years, to once again make the ‘Steamboat Era’ a major part of the Jacksonport experience.”
Designed for river travel, the Mary Woods No. 2 flat hull drew less than four feet of water, making her able to work shallow water passing sand bars and operate close to riverbanks. She was 136 feet long and weighed 157 tons. A powerful sternwheeler, her two, 300 horsepower steam engines allowed her to confidently work the Mississippi, White, Black, Cache, and other rivers moving logs from cuts to mills. The Mary Woods No. 2 worked with two barges which could each carry 85,000 board feet of logs. Originally a coal burning steamboat, the boat was converted to a fuel burning steam vessel in 1937. In 1949 the Mary Woods No. 2 was once again transformed, this time from oil-burning steam power to diesel engines.