The group, which meets about once a month, boasts more than 600 members from all over the country, said the society's president, Dale Wangberg.
Sunday's lecture, given by steamboat aficionado David Dewey, spoke about the glamorous, but often dangerous, world of steamboats in Northern California.
The only two active steamboats left in operation are the Bella Louisville, built in 1914 that operates out of Louisville, and the Natchez, built in 1979 and operating out of New Orleans, Dewey said.
When steamboats first arrived in the north state, the trip from San Francisco to Sacramento by river was 125 miles, and Sacramento to Chico was 199 miles, both against the current.
According to Dewey, 1853 was really the height of steamboat activity on the Feather River, due to the railroad lines being put into use soon after.
"The amount of traffic on our rivers was never justifiable to the government," he said. Many steamboats were left to rot, or were sunk.
A boat was hired to make the run from Marysville to Oroville three-times per week, but on the first trip it was grounded on a sandbar about 12 miles south of Oroville and only ran for a few months due to the relatively low water levels in Northern California rivers.
Oroville was practically isolated, Dewey said, "Our 'rivers' were basically streams."
Though about 10,000 people lived in Yuba County around the turn of the century, river travel in this part of the north state was next to impossible with snags and sandbars causing even worse problems for steamboat pioneers.
"The death knell was in 1932," said Dewey, referring to a fire that started on the Broderick docks in what is now West Sacramento, nearly wiping out the entire fleet, but for two ships. "One boat (caught) fire and it was a very windy day." Sacramento proper wouldn't cross the river to help Broderick firemen put it out and steamboats became all but a relic of the river.
"Steamboats are really lost to history," Dewey said. "Especially California steamboats."
Staff writer Robin Epley can be reached at 896-7761 or email@example.com.