page_title: Amelia Wheaton
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Amelia Wheaton / Operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Sternwheeler Amelia Wheaton at the Old Mission, Idaho
context_page_description: Amelia Wheaton was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the St. Joe river from 1880 to 1892. This was the first steam-powered vessel to operate on the lake and the adjacent river. This boat was sometimes referred to as simply the Wheaton.
context_section_description: Amelia Wheaton was formally purchased by the government on August 24, 1880 for a price of $8,000.  The Wheaton was however little used for the rest of the fiscal year, with operating expenses totally only $165.   As of July 1881, Wheaton made only monthly trips to the Old Mission, on the St. Joe River.  Wheaton was expected to increase the frequency of the trips to the mission to tri-weekly once hay making season began in 1881.
  The first pilot of the Wheaton was Private William J. Applebee, who had had 14 years experience in the navy.  Sorenson himself was made the first captain of the steamer.  Wheaton was used mostly for transport feed for the cavalry mules at Fort Sherman, hay from the old mission at St. Maries and grain from Farmington.  The steamer was also expected to move troops in the case of conflict with the Coeur d'Alene people.  Captain Sorensen, operating the Wheaton, named most of the bays and features of Lake Coeur d’Alene.
caption: Amelia Wheaton at the Old Mission.
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