GASSVILLE — A fishing guide on the White River saw what looked like a staircase on the bottom of the White River near Gassville. It turned out to be a nearly complete riverboat from the 1920s.
Longtime fishing guide Mike Flippin has raised the boat and has it on land, submerged in a vessel and treated with a solution that will preserve the wood.
Flippin figured out in late June that his find was an old boat. With help, he raised it on July 2.
Flippin says the craft is a pushboat that was fitted with motor block.
He says boats such as these used to make regular runs from Galena, Mo., to Cotter, and from Galena to Branson, Mo.