552 - Lewis and Clark Riverboat Landing

The Lewis & Clark Riverboat is a replica 19th Century paddle-wheel steamboat and the second passenger vessel to operate heritage cruises from the Port of Bismarck. She was designed to replace the Far West Riverboat—named to commemorate the famous steamboat piloted by Captain Grant Marsh in the 1870s.

The Lewis & Clark got her name from a public naming contest held while she was still under construction. Over 14,000 suggestions came from over 2,000 area residents. Overwhelmingly, the community wanted the riverboat to bear the names of the Corps of Discovery leaders who ascended the Missouri River in the fall of 1803.

The riverboat was completed in 1990 and was shipped to Bismarck from LaCrosse, Wisconsin on the back of a semi-truck. At the end of her arduous overland journey, the long-awaited 60-ton vessel was scheduled to make her maiden voyage on June 2, 1990, but wet conditions delayed the event. Both the semi-truck and crane needed to hoist the Lewis & Clark into the river were mired in mud at Centennial Beach, unable to offload the riverboat until the following day.

In the 30 years since, the Lewis & Clark Riverboat has ferried and carried countless passengers up and down the Missouri River. But for a time in the early 2000s, its future was somewhat uncertain and Bismarck-Mandan came very close to losing her forever. In 2001, two of the original investors took over operating the heritage cruises and, in 2008, the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation stepped in and purchased the boat.

​The Lewis & Clark Riverboat continues the proud tradition of the Missouri River steamers, hosting public and private cruises on the “Mighty Mo” daily, from May to September...