The Story of Paul Satko's Ark

Next episode airs this morning on KUOW. Catch up on earlier episodes online.

There’s a great oral history series running on KUOW right now. To borrow the description from the story’s narrator, it’s the story of one family’s “odyssey across Depression era America in a home made automobile that turns into a boat.” That family is the Satko family, and the part of the story in which the automobile turns into a boat takes place in Tacoma.

If you’re not familiar with the story of Paul Satko and his ark, you absolutely should be. This is one of those great stories of a guy with a zany idea that seems like it has no hope of success. If he was wealthy, Paul Satko would be called eccentric. But Paul Satko wasn’t rich. In the tough years of the depression, he decided that Alaska was the place to go. The problem? He was in Virginia. The solution? Satko’s answer to this challenge was a little different from practically anyone else’s: build a vehicle that could take him all the way there – over both land and water.

Although he only spent a short time in Tacoma, Satko’s story is nonetheless a compelling chapter in the city’s history. If you haven’t heard the story before, we think you’ll find it fascinating. If you are familiar with the Satko story, you’ll probably still learn a little. Maybe you’ll learn a lot. You will definitely pick up a few facts to impress people at cocktail parties. At least people who are in to Tacoma. The series is playing every other day on KUOW’s Weekday, or you can listen to the episodes after they’ve aired at www.satkosark.org. This series is a wonderful telling of the story – especially because it includes recordings of Paul Satko telling it from his point of view.

Find more, including pictures and episodes at www.satkosark.org.