Along Garden Highway north of the Sacramento Airport lies an unexpected behemoth. An old multi-storied riverboat, complete with paddle wheel sits on the shore of the Sacramento River. It's known as 'The Spirit of Sacramento,' its been here for years and holds a rich local history.
According to capradio.org, "The boat was originally an Army Corps of Engineers snag boat called the Putah. It was built in 1942 by the Berkeley Steel Construction Company. Snag boats would go up and down the river removing obstructions from the river bottom to clear the way for other vessels.
In 1950 John Wayne (yes THE John Wayne) bought the Putah and fixed it up for the 1955 movie Blood Alley, starring Wayne and Lauren Bacall. The movie was filmed on the Sacramento River and along the northern California coast.
(Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUyorJ6RGi4 )
After the movie Wayne sold the boat to a Sacramento businessman, Frank Parisi, who renamed it the Mansion Belle and ran river cruises throughout the 1960s.
In 1991 the boat was once again purchased, this time by Channel Star Excursions and renamed the Spirit of Sacramento. The company ran five years of successful dinner cruises until a fire destroyed most of the ship."
The present owner, William Barker purchased the boat in 1996 and rebuilt several decks in the hope of someday running dinner cruises. But years of fueding with the state and vandalism have left the boat high and dry. In 2012 The Spirit of Sacramento was pulled out of the river and placed onto the nearby bank where it remains today. It presently rests on private property near the road as a symbol of Californias movie and riverboat history.
*BYOP and tweezers*