Most Alaskans think cruise tourism to the state is something relatively new. Indeed, the big and shiny ships bringing thousands of visitors to Alaska each summer are a relatively new sight in Alaska's coastal waters, but tourists have actually been coming north on ships to sightsee for more than a century.

The business, which first bonded Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, was actually pioneered in the 1880s by the Pacific Coast Steamship Co. of San Francisco, which launched monthly voyages to Southeast Alaska in 1881, with two ships, the Ancon and the Idaho. A third ship, the Eureka, joined the company later.

Pacific Steam wanted to challenge a monopoly held by the Oregon Steamship Co., which had started service to Alaska in 1875. Oregon Steam had offered the first scheduled service to Alaska, but Pacific Coast was the first to pioneer pleasure travel.

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Reprinted with permission of Tim Bradner and the Alaska Journal of Commerce.