Our company can be described as a small, local, family owned and operated business.
Captain Jim Binkley, Sr., followed in his father’s footsteps and piloted freight vessels on the Yukon and Tanana Rivers in the 1940’s. In 1950, noting the coming changes in the freighting business, Captain Jim and his wife, Mary, began the business. Over the coming years, their business grew from the Godspeed, a 25-passenger vessel, to the Discovery III, a 900-passenger vessel. Today, their grandchildren run the company and you will still see Mary B around the property and waving to the boat.
The Binkley’s also operate a mining attraction: Gold Dredge 8. This tour incorporates large scale mining and the smaller scale side of mining into an all-encompassing tour that also features the Trans Alaska Pipeline and a replica of the Tanana Valley Railroad.