COOS BAY — After years of separation, a daughter of Coos Bay’s maritime history has returned home, but not by the power of her own propellers — those had to be removed.

All 36,000 pounds of The Welcome, the last of the area’s famed Mosquito fleet, and the final milk boat to make the voyage Allegany to Coos Bay, were lugged from a private property near Winchester Bay to Front Street Friday. Representatives of the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum hope to eventually restore the boat and place her at the museum’s new site on Front.

“It will especially be nice to have this boat at what will be the new museum site because we’re right at the mouth of the Coos River, which is how the boat connected to upriver ranches,” said Anne Donnelly, the executive director of the museum.

The trip was a slow one for Tom Curran, a truck boss at West Coast Contractors, who transported the old vessel’s worn and faded hull via a 48-foot drop deck trailer attached to a Kenworth tractor. Going well under the speed limit along U.S. Highway 101 and along the McCullough Bridge, Curran said he drove cautiously to make sure the boat didn’t disintegrate on the ride home.

“I had to drive real slow. I only went 40 mph because I didn’t want it to shake apart,” Curran said. “It’s been sitting there in all the weather for 30 years.”

Starting at 9 a.m., he and community volunteers, including two others from his company, spent hours on the site that day, setting up a crane to lift the craft via three padded nylon slings, making test runs and finally swinging the 50-foot-long boat onto the trailer.

The boat groaned in protest when crews lifted it from the land, but no damage was done, Donnelly said. She noted that a few metal pieces, including some pipes, the propellers and rudders, had to be removed so the boat could pass through the McCullough and stay balanced on the trailer.

“It absolutely could not have been done without this professional crew,” Donnelly said while looking up at the boat Saturday in Coos Bay.

The boat’s journey to Coos Bay represents only the final chapter of the tale of The Welcome’s return.

About six months ago, Ron Eakin, the owner of property where The Welcome was rediscovered, called museum officials to ask if they wanted it. He had done some research to learn about the boat’s history and found this was no piece of junk he had on his hands.

Donnelly said the offer came as quite a surprise.

“I was astonished that the boat still existed and could be recognized for what it had been,” Donnelly said.

George Livingstone who coordinated the boat’s return, searched for community partners to help with the removal. Livingstone serves on the museum’s maritime acquisition committee. He said he and other committee members considered ways to deliver the boat to Coos Bay but realized they couldn’t do it on their own.

“The key was finding the right people,” Livingstone said. “We mulled this over and looked at in different ways and realized we needed real serious expertise to organize the move of The Welcome and to determine if it could even be done.”

With the help of Curran, Mike Lee of Fred Wahl Marine Shipyard, and Sause Bros. Ocean Towing Co., which has provided a site for The Welcome under cover and away from prying eyes, the move was a success, Livingstone said.

“Hey, we’re thrilled now,” Livingstone said. “We felt like it was important to get it into the hands of the museum so that we could then make long-term plans for restoration and exhibition to the public.”

Livingstone gave a lot of credit to Curran, but the truck boss said it was a typical job, except that he had to be a bit more delicate with the cargo.

“We’re crane people. It was just another lift,” Curran said.

Donnelly said The Welcome’s restoration could be tricky as additions were made to the craft after it ended its career as a milk boat. A new cabin was attached along with some metal and wood pieces.

“There’s a lot of issues about a boat like this if you decide to restore it — what you’re restoring it to, because it’s present condition is part of the story,” Donnelly said. “But showing people what it looked like in its heyday is also important.”

Since The Welcome was rediscovered, Donnelly said the museum has received a number of calls from people who once rode the boat or who want to help restore it.

According to “Southern Oregon Mosquito Fleet: Stories about Coos County Boats,” by Victor C. West, although automobiles and roads that were built along rivers and inlets began to take business from water crafts in the late teens and early 1920s, a few managed to stay in operation until about World War II, including The Welcome. Captain Jesse Ott steered it through its last passenger and freight run from Allegany to Coos Bay on Dec. 11, 1948, the book states.

“People just love that aspect of our history here,” Donnelly said.