In 1909, Captain A. H. Alexanderson spent six months and $900 building the steamboat Wanderland with his own hands near the mouth of Bear Creek a few miles north of Oakes. The boat had a 61-foot deck, a 16-foot beam, an eight-horsepower steam engine, and a stern paddle wheel eight feet in diameter and eight feet four inches wide, and it could travel about eight miles an hour. For the next two years, low water on the James River kept the craft barely off the banks, and people in Oakes and nearby communities were wary of it. On Aug. 5, 1912, Alexanderson launched the boat into midstream by himself and headed north, removing some upper rigging and superstructure to pass under bridges, and he ended his voyage at LaMoure on Sat., Aug. 24. After arriving, he invited local residents to steamboat excursions, and on Sunday he departed at 10:30 a.m. with his first passengers and made five trips several miles down the river and back, carrying from a dozen to 50 passengers each trip. A report printed in the LaMoure County Chronicle on Aug. 30, 1912, recalled a particularly enjoyable Sunday evening trip by about 50 excursionists and said the Wanderland carried about 160 passengers in all and netted its owner about $33. Alexanderson's crew that day included Carl Knudson as chief engineer and John Lindsen as head stoker, while Alexanderson steered from the bridge. Alexanderson also built and navigated the gas-powered pleasure craft Redwing, one of three boats he built, which ran on the James River south of LaMoure from 1914 to 1916 with a five-horsepower single-cylinder engine and a top speed of 16 miles per hour. Bridge construction and low water ended these river excursions, and in 1916 the Redwing was taken downriver for use on Sand Lake near Columbia, South Dakota, until 1925. It later returned to Fullerton and served as part of Captain Alex's living quarters, and after his death in December 1961 at age 81, the RedWing was given to the city of LaMoure through his estate and restored by the LaMoure Community Betterment Club.