The last hurrah for steamboats on the San Joaquin

For The Madera Tribune

The last steamboats in Madera.

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As one leaves Madera County, traveling south across the Herndon Bridge at the San Joaquin River, there is little evidence that at one time this site was a busy steamboat landing known as Aliso or Sycamore.

Similarly, as one leaves Madera County, traveling toward Kerman on Highway 145, at the Skaggs Bridge crossing, the site of another important San Joaquin River steamboat landing is passed.

The memories of these two landings, separated as they were by several miles as well as decades, brings to mind the omnipresent potential of the San Joaquin River.