The Alaska State Museum March 2024 Artifact of the Month is a ship's wheel from the S.S. Reliance. Northern Commercial Co. operated the ship on the Lower Yukon River in the early part of the 20th century.
George A. Parks, territorial governor of Alaska from 1925 to 1933, later used the wheel as a hat rack. Parks donated the wheel to the Alaska State Museum in 1967.
From the Anchorage Daily Times on Feb. 10, 1967: ".....The unusual hat rack used by Parks during his years in the Governor's Mansion is another item in the collection. It is the pilot wheel from the S.S. Reliance, which operated on the lower Yukon. When the Reliance was beached, her pilot wheel was removed, cleaned, and sent to Parks."
This object is not currently on public display, but you can find a similar ship’s wheel in the museum’s transportation section. That wheel, ASM 2013-35-1, is from the S.S. Jefferson.
The helmsman for the S.S. Reliance might have used a rolled navigational chart like the one pictured to help navigate the Yukon River. This scroll chart is on public display in the museum’s mining section.
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