Steamboats of Lake Crescent, Washington

Lake Crescent is a large glacially-carved lake on the northern side of the Olympic Mountains. In the days before highways were built, Lake Crescent was used as route from Port Townsend into the northwestern part of the Olympic Peninsula. Steamboats and similar water craft were built and used on the lake until the Olympic Highway was completed along the south shore of the lake in 1922.

Points accessed by water

Lake Crescent Lodge

Lake Crescent Lodge was originally known as Singer's Lake Crescent Tavern, built by Avery J and Julia Singer in the early part of the last century. The ferries on the lake ran to points west from the East Beach dock near the tavern. [http://www.craigmagnuson.com/crescent.htm Magnuson, Craig, History of Lake Crescent] (accessed 2007-12-29)]

Ovington's Resort

Ovington's was located along the north shore of Lake Crescent, near the modern North Shore picnic area. Built by Edward J. “Ned” Ovington and his wife Emily in 1905, it was one of the most popular resorts on the lake. Guests to Ovington's first arrived by boat, before the construction of the north shore road. [http://www.craigmagnuson.com/crescent.htm Magnuson, Craig, History of Lake Crescent] (accessed 2007-12-29)]

Marymere Hotel

The Barnes family built the Marymere Hotel built 1906. It was located at Barnes Point at the narrowest part of the lake, on the south shore, at the base of Mount Storm King. Until the road was built on the shore of the lake, guests of the Marymere arrived by boat. The hotel burned down around 1914. [http://www.craigmagnuson.com/crescent.htm Magnuson, Craig, History of Lake Crescent] (accessed 2007-12-29)]

Construction and operations

In 1913, Michael Earles, owner of the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, built on Lake Crescent the gasoline-launch "Betty Earles" (named after his daughter) to take guests bound for his lodge from the head of the lake to Fairholm, at the western end, where they would disembark and ride motor buses up to his resort. The boat was large for the lake, 65' feet long, 16.5' on the beam, with an 80 horsepower heavy-duty Frisco Standard engine. [Newell, Gordon R., ed., "H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest", at page 223, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966 (reprinting a small scale plan of the "Betty Earles")]

The next year, 1914, Captain O.D. Treiber designed for Clallam County the gasoline-powered side wheel ferry "Marjory", which was 65' feet long, 27' on the beam, and powered by an 18 horsepower Field engine. "Marjory" was operated on the same route as the "Betty Earles", and had a capacity of seven automobiles and 50 passengers. [McCurdy, at 244]

Treiber designed another, larger ferry for the Lake Crescent service. This was ‘’Storm King’‘, named after a mountain overlooking the lake. Like "Marjory", "Storm King" was a sidewheeler, but much larger. On deck, she was 112' long and measured 31.5' on the beam across her wheels. (Her hull measurements were 90' long, 20.5' on the beam.) "Storm King", powered by a 40 horsepower Fairbanks-Morse engine, was probably the largest vessel ever on Lake Crescent. She could carry 21 automobiles and 150 passengers, exactly triple the capacity of "Marjory" [McCurdy, at 255, showing photo of launch of "Storm King." This may be a relaunching following reconstruction with an upper deck, as the sequence of photo links in this article will show.]

Michael Earles’ Sol Duc lodge burned down around 1918, and he moved "Betty Earles" off Lake Crescent to serve on Puget Sound under the command of Captain O. G. Olson. Later, in 1924, "Betty Earles" was sold to Tacoma Tug & Barge Co. Remarkably, "Betty Earles" was still in service as a tug as late as 1958, still under her old name [McCurdy, at 355 and 626]

Lake Crescent also supported its own little fleet of steam and gasoline launches, with idyllic or at least speedy-sounding names: "Lady of the Lake, "Olympus", "Greyhound", and "Flyer".

External links

Photographs

Boats, launches and ferries

* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=38 steamer "Betty Earles" on Lake Crescent] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ftm&CISOPTR=417&CISOMODE=thumb clearer image of steamer "Betty Earles"] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ftm&CISOPTR=345&CISOMODE=thumb "Betty Earles" at dock on Lake Crescent, circa 1914 (note solid rubber-tired trucks on dock)]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ftm&CISOPTR=593&CISOMODE=thumb motor ferry "Storm King" on Lake Crescent] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=31&CISOMODE=thumb "Storm King" unloading automobiles, 1918] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=46&CISOMODE=thumb ferry "Storm King" before addition of upper deck, probably circa 1915] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=17&CISOMODE=thumb "Storm King" unloading passengers at Fairholm, 1918]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=20&CISOMODE=thumb steam launch "Flyer"]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=12&CISOMODE=thumb steam launch "Greyhound", carrying possibly too many passengers]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=1&CISOMODE=thumb steam launch "Lady of the Lake"]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=60&CISOMODE=thumb steam ferry "Marjory" 1919]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=132 steam launch "Olympus"]

Destinations and resorts

* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=7&CISOMODE=thumb Ovington's resort and pier on Lake Crescent]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ftm&CISOPTR=249&CISOMODE=thumb people on pier at Fairholm]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/ftm&CISOPTR=240&CISOMODE=thumb pier at East Beach, with ferry]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=59&CISOMODE=thumb stage coach waiting at pier, 1895]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=76 Marymere Hotel (from old postcard)] | [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=52 another view of Marymere Hotel]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/cchs&CISOPTR=63 Lake Crescent Tavern]

Websites

* [http://www.craigmagnuson.com/crescent.htm Magnuson, Craig, History of Lake Crescent] accessed 1/27/08

References