History The Petaluma Queen is a tourist excursion boat built in 1993 as a full-scale replica of a Mississippi paddlewheeler. It celebrates the long history of steamboating on the Petaluma River. After the establishment in 1852 of the first hunting camp in the area, steamboats began to carry a variety of imports from San Francisco and the East Coast, as well as exports from Petaluma's mills, factories, and farms.