Steamboats of Lake Washington

Lake Washington is a large lake immediately to the east of Seattle. Before modern highways and bridges were built, the only means of crossing the lake, other than the traditional canoe, was by steamboat, and, later, by ferry. While there was no easily navigable connection to Puget Sound, the Lake Washington Ship Canal now connects Lake Washington to Lake Union, and from there Puget Sound is reached by way of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.

Beginnings

In the 1870s the sternwheeler "Lena C. Gray" was built in Seattle, and operated on Lake Washington most of the time, towing barges. [Carey, Roland, "The Steamboat Landing on Elliot Bay", at page 36, Alderbrook Publishing, Seattle, WA 1962] In about 1886, Edward F. Lee established a shipyard on the west side Lake Washington. The Lee yard is believed to have built the following ships that worked Lake Washington and Puget Sound: the small steam scow "Squak", the "Laura Maud", "Elfin", "Hattie Hansen" (also known as "Sechelt"), and "Mist". Other early steamboats on the lake were "Kirkland" and "Mary Kraft". [ [http://www.historyink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2306 “Lee Shipyard, first business on Sand Point (Lake Washington), opens about 1886", Historylink.org] (accessed 1/30/08)]

G.V. Johnson also built a shipyard on the lake in 1888, and from it launched, among others, the steamers "L.T. Haas", "Acme", and "City of Renton". Another early steamboat on Lake Washington was the clipper-bowed yacht-like "Cyrene", built in 1891. [Newell, Gordon R., "H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest", at page 160, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966.] and the "C.C. Calkins". In 1893, "Hattie Hansen", later to have a tragic end off Vancouver Island was built at the Lee shipyard. "Hattie Hansen only served on the lake until the next year, when she was brought down the Black and Duwamish rivers and placed on the Seattle-Dogfish Bay route under Capt. J.J. Hansen. [McCurdy, at 23, 193, 377]

Rise of Anderson Steamboat Company

Captain John L. Anderson

Steamboat operations on Lake Washington eventually became almost the sole province of one firm, Anderson Steamboat Company, founded by John L. Anderson, an immigrant from Sweden. His brother, Adolph Anderson, was also a steamboat master on the lake. The company’s headquarters was at Leschi Park, and the company had a shipyard across the lake at Houghton.Gibbs, Jim and Williamson, Joe, "Maritime Memories of Puget Sound", Schiffer Publishing, West Chester, PA 1987 ISBN 0-88740-044-2]

Anderson had worked his way up from deckhand to skipper of the "C.C. Calkins", and in 1895, he was able to buy his one steamboat, the "Winnifred", which burned the next year, 1896, at Leschi Park. [McCurdy, at 7] Anderson then bought for $1,600, the aging propeller steamer "Quickstep", which had been built at Astoria in 1877. "Quickstep" also burned in 1896, and Captain Anderson, undaunted, salvaged her engines to place in a new boat he would build at his own yard, "Lady of the Lake". [McCurdy, at 23-34]

Construction of steamboats on lake

In 1900, the Anderson yard built the steam launch "Elsinore", and for a while the Anderson concern ran her between Leschi and Madison parks. Later she was sold to Capt. George Jenkins, who ran her for many years on Lake Whatcom. [McCurdy, at 61] "L.T. Haas", built for the Interlaken Steamboat Company, was launched in 1902, and later acquired by Captain Anderson. Like the fate of many other boats, "L.T. Haas" was destroyed by fire in 1909.Faber, Jim, "Steamer’s Wake", Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN 0-9615811-0-7]

In 1904 Anderson built the steel-hulled sternwheel passenger steamer "Mercer" (84 tons, 65' long). [McCurdy, at 105] . In 1906, the passenger steamer "C.F." (8 tons) was built at Tacoma and later operated on Lake Washington at Leschi Park by Adolph Anderson (brother of John Anderson [McCurdy at 164] and Louis Birch. Also in 1906, the Anderson yard built the passenger steamer "Fortuna" (81 tons, 107' long) for the partnership between Anderson and the Seattle Street Railway. "Fortuna" had compound engines that had been built at Seattle Machine Works. Fortuna stayed in service until 1938, although in 1915 she had to suffer being rebuilt as an automobile ferry. [McCurdy at 119]

In 1909, the Anderson yard built "Triton" (49 tons, 78' feet) at Houghton for the Lake Washington service. Also in that year Capt. Simon Brunn built at Lenora the steamer "Juanita" for passenger service on the Kirkland-Madison Park run. ("Juanita" only lasted a few years. In 1912, she was being taken down to the Sound on the Cedar River, and ran aground on a sand bar, then burned. [McCurdy, at 210] ) Additionally, to serve the crowds at the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exhibition, "Cyrene" was rebuilt and enlarged, her pilot house being moved to the upper deck. [McCurdy at 160-161] Captain Anderson preferred mystic-sounding names for his boats, of which by 1909 he had fourteen, including among them the "Atalanta", "Aquilo", and "Xanthus". Other boats on the lake included the steam launch "Ramona" and the little steamer "May Blossom", which used to run from Lake Washington up Sammamish Slough to Bothell.

Routes on the lake

Anderson’s company had over 50 stops on the lake, including the elegant C.C. Calkins Hotel on Mercer Island. The company’s main terminal was at Leschi which in 1888 was connected to Seattle by cable car. Leschi Park was a popular resort, for example over 40,000 people went there on the Fourth of July, 1908, and this was good for the water tour business which was an important part of the Anderson firm’s trade.

In 1911, the Anderson Steamboat Company offered a "beautiful 25-mile cruise around Mercer Island for 25-cents." The other advertised routes and departures were:
*"Fortuna" left Madison Park eight times daily for Kirkland and Juanita;
*"Aquilo" left Madison Park seven times daily for Houghton and the "Bay Route";
*"Triton" left Leschi Park eleven times daily for Medina, Bellevue and the "Scenic Route";
*"Atlanta" left Leschi Park six times daily for points around Mercer Island;
*"Cyrene" left Leschi Park eleven times daily for East Seattle and points on the west side of Mercer Island. Gordon R., and Williamson, Joe, "Pacific Steamboats", at page 165, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1958]

Business fell for the traditional passenger only boats as interurban train routes and then automobiles came to dominate transportation. In 1917, the small steamer "Swan" and, reportedly " Urania" were transferred to Puget Sound, where they continued to be operated by Anderson Steamboat Company in passenger service to Port Orchard. [McCurdy at 292] This is doubtful as to "Urania" as she burned for a total loss off Houghton on February 12, 1912. [http://www.scret.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=0 Report on discovery of wreck of Urania by Submerged Cultural Resources Exploration Team] (accessed 2008-2-14)] In 1926, the steamers "Bremerton" (ex-"Kitsap") and "Reliance", belonging to the Kitsap County Transportation Company, were rafted up together with the Anderson tug "Dart". A fire started and all three vessels were destroyed. [McCurdy, at 375]

Ferries on Lake Washington

Ferries joined the Lake Washington fleet, starting in 1900 with the side-wheel ferry "King County", which had the bad luck of stranding in mudbank on her launching with a large number of county officials aboard. Poorly-built, she had chronic mechanical problem, and was condemned in 1908. [McCurdy at 61] She was replaced in 1908 with the "Washington". Later, the Anderson yard at Houghton built the steel-hulled propeller ferry "Lincoln" (580 tons, 147.3' long, 43' on the beam, with 12.6' depth of hold). "Lincoln" was put into operation by King County on the Madison Park-Kirkland run. Later, the Anderson yard built another steam propeller ferry, the "Issaquah", a double-ender (288 tons, 114' long, 38' on the beam, with 9.0 depth of hold), which included then-new features such as upper levels for vehicles above the main deck and an adjustable loading ramp. She was placed on the route between Leschi Park and Newport, stopping in between at Roanoke, on Mercer Island. At Newport, "Issaquah" connected with the newly-built highway that to Lake Sammamish, Fall City, Issaquah, North Bend, and Snoqualmie Pass.

In 1913, the Port of Seattle built for service on Lake Washington, the large steel-hulled sidewheel ferry "Leschi" (433 tons, 169' long, 33' foot beam, 8.3' draft). She was fast (14 knots) and in April 1913, she was placed on the run between Leschi Park, Medina and Bellevue. "Leschi" was the first publicly-owned ferry in the region. To keep his customers, Captain Anderson generously offer free service on his boats Fortuna and Atlanta to the launching of the "Leschi". [McCurdy, at 222] Even so, the ferries, subsidized as they were by King County and by the Port of Seattle, quickly made unprofitable private operation on Lake Washington of passenger boats and ferries. [McCurdy, at 242.]

eaplane collision

Seaplanes were new in the early 1920s. Still, on June 11, 1920, one of them managed to collide into the steamer "Dawn".

End of business

The Anderson fleet was eventually bought out by King County. Ferry service on the lake declined with the completion of the floating bridges across Lake Washington. The last ferry, Leschi, stopped running in 1950. [McCurdy, at 23] [Newell, Gordon R., "Ships of the Inland Sea", at page 192, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1960)]

Notes