Low water last fall left a paddleboat stranded in the St. Croix River just offshore from Minnesota’s Interstate Park. The Taylors Falls Queen was unable to make its annual trip downstream to Stillwater to spend the winter, and instead has been moored a short ways from its summer dock in the Dalles.

The Queen’s sister boat, the Taylors Falls Princess, was able to reach Stillwater due to a different design that draws less water. The only other time the Queen has not been able to make the journey in the past half century was in 1981.

Taylors Falls Scenic Boat Tours company president Amy Frischmon says the boat is made to freeze in the ice and there is no cause to be concerned about its integrity.

“Both vessels were specifically designed to freeze in the river and winter in the water, as they do each year,” Frischmon told St. Croix 360. “This year, they are simply in different locations.”

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Queen is 65 feet long and 18.5 feet across. Her gross tonnage is 46 tons.

Frischmon said her company worked with the National Park Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to plan for the craft to spend the season near the state park’s boat landing.

“She is positioned outside of the channel, and buoys with reflective tape have been placed to ensure she is clearly visible to anyone on the river,” Frischmon said.

Frischmon’s family has owned the boat tour company in the Dalles since 1906. The Taylors Falls Queen was built in La Crosse, Wis. in 1980.