Cruising along

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s now officially been 42 years since the cruise boat known as Mish-an-nock slid into the Spokane River and headed upstream to Lake Coeur d’Alene for the first time.

The two-deck excursion boat was 65 feet long, 33 feet wide, and was powered by twin 125-horsepower Caterpillar engines. It was crafted with 58 tons of steel by well-known tugboat maker Howard J. Dolph, and launched from Dolph Boat Works in Post Falls. Dolph’s brothers, Scott and Rich, helped build it.

The boat got its name from a group of Post Falls Camp Fire Girls. They selected the name — meaning “morning star” — from a book of Kalispel Tribe of Indian names, said Dorothy “Faye” (Dolph) Higbee, of Post Falls. David Cole, Cda Press, Read more.

Have you ever taken a lake cruise aboard the Mish-an-nock? What was the occasion?