In Honor of Jim Binkley

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to speak and honor a great Alaskan, and long time family friend, Jim Binkley of Fairbanks.

Jim, one of the State's great riverboat captains, died last Friday after a long and painful illness. I join all Alaskans in expressing my deepest condolences to his family and all of his friends across the State.

Jim was born in Wrangell in southeast Alaska 82 years ago and was raised in California after his father's death. After high school, Jim moved back to Wrangell and worked as a river guide with him uncle, learning his craft on riverboats and gaining his love of the water. After a few years he moved to Fairbanks to attend the University of Alaska.

It was there during the long Fairbanks summers that he learned the ways of interior rivers, working on steamboats, hauling supplies to Eskimo and native villages along the Yukon River. While his schooling at the University was interrupted by a tour of duty in the U.S. military during World War II, he returned to school in Fairbanks after the war. There he met his future wife of 55 years, Mary Hall, and they were married in June 1947.

In 1950, Jim and Mary were asked to run riverboat cruises in Fairbanks by Alaska tourism pioneer Chuck West. Using the Episcopal Church vessel, "Godspeed" they began offering tours of the Chena and Tanana Rivers. As their business expanded, they needed a bigger boat. So in 1955, Jim and Mary, along with their original partner Bill English, built the first Riverboat Discovery in their backyard on the Noyes Slough in Fairbanks.

Over his 45 years in the riverboat business, Jim built two more boats, helping to launch the modern era of tourism in Alaska's interior. But he launched much more for Alaska.

He helped create Alaskaland, Fairbanks' historic major municipal park. He was a founder of the Alaska Visitors Association and the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau. And he showed his commitment to public service by serving two terms in the Alaska House of Representative in Juneau from 1961 through 1964.

He was also a pioneer in improving communications in Alaska, serving on the boards of Alascom, Pacific Corp. and later Pacific Telecom, helping switch telecommunications in Alaska from an era of Government-controlled long-distance phone service to the modern era of satellite communication that included the arrival of live television to all parts of the State.
He received numerous awards, including being named the Alaskan of the Year and the Business Leader of the Year.

While I have lived in Anchorage for the past 25 years, I can never forget sitting in my parents' backyard along the Chena River in Fairbanks. You could almost tell time by when Captain Binkley would pilot the Discovery past our house, always waving his warm welcome as we tooted a fog horn in reply as the sternwheeler rounded the small bends heading for the junction with the Tanana.

Alaska has lost a great pioneer and an even greater leader. I want to express my deepest condolences to his wife, Mary, to his son Johne, himself a former leading member of the Alaska Legislature, to his sons Jim, Jr. and Skip and to all his grandchildren. All of Alaska mourns his passing.