Lancaster’s newest tourist attraction, the Chief Uncas motor yacht, began offering Susquehanna River tours to the public at full capacity last week.
Through mid-October, guides will host four daily cruises Thursday through Sunday around the river’s Lake Clarke section. There are sunset tours, charter tours and special events as well, including a Native American heritage tour Monday in honor of Indigenous People’s Day.
The launch of the tours is a milestone for the Chief Uncas’ owner and operator, the Susquehanna National Heritage Area.
“It’s been quite a complex project,” the nonprofit’s executive director, Mark Platts, said.
The Chief Uncas was built in 1912 for Adolphus Busch, co-founder of the company that became Anheuser-Busch. For more than a century, it plied the waters of Ostego Lake near Cooperstown, N.Y.
Seeing it as ideal for its River Discovery Tour program, Susquehanna National Heritage Area acquired the vessel from a Busch descendant last year.
The Chief Uncas is a big change from the pontoon boats the tours have been using. It’s rated to carry up to 24 passengers, and its twin electric engines are remarkably quiet, allowing a tour guide to narrate while it’s in motion. Then, of course, there is the Chief Uncas’ elegantly outfitted mahogany cabin.
A team has been renovating and field-testing the Chief Uncas since early spring, a task that included completely rewiring the electrical system. In September, while working toward final certification by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Susquehanna National Heritage Area began offering “sneak preview” cruises for six people at a time.
The nonprofit estimated the acquisition and startup costs at close to $200,000.
The organization would have liked to have started the tours earlier, but the delay it encountered were unavoidable, Platts said. Next year, the Chief Uncas will launch around Memorial Day and operate throughout the summer into fall, he said.
Going forward, expenses will be covered by ticket and charter revenue, sponsorships and grants, Platts said. The business plan calls for building up a reserve to cover capital expenses over and above routine maintenance.
The river tours last about an hour and cover the Susquehanna River’s geology, flora, fauna and cultural history from pre-Columbian times to the present. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for ages 5-17 and free for ages 6 months to 5 years. Reservations are recommended. For more information, click here.
