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|---|---|
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| 1871 | 1 |
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1,241 stories matching steamer
- The Senator’s Homecoming: A City Roars for Watson Squire
Thousands line the Seattle waterfront as the Bailey Gatzert steamer arrives, carrying newly re-elected U.S. Senator Watson C. Squire home from Olympia in a spontaneous ovation of cheers, champagne christenings, and civic pride.
- A Steamboat Inspector on Trial, and the Men Who Kicked
A Seattle courtroom hears masters and pilots defend Capt. Bryant against charges of favoritism—and admit that the men who complain are often the incompetent ones.
- Seattle Turns Out for the Whaleback
A strange steel steamer built in Everett glides into Seattle, drawing crowds, whistles, and one skeptical old skipper.
- The Steamboat Strike That Tied Up the Sound
Officers of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company refuse to accept wage cuts, halting ferry service between Seattle and Tacoma in a rare display of maritime labor solidarity.
- A Ferry Before the Ferry: The Fight to Replace Open Boats on Admiralty Inlet
Whidbey Islanders were crossing to Port Townsend in open rowboats through tide rips and chopping seas. Local merchants and an island resident with $4,000 wanted piers, a steamer and a regular route.
- The Unpaid Labor of the 'Lone Fisherman'
When the owner of a small steamer failed to pay his shipwrights, they took to the courts to reclaim their wages.
- The Steamboat That Dared the Rapids
Captain James W. Troup pilots the steamer *Hasalo* through the treacherous Cascades of the Columbia River in a feat of navigation that thrilled onlookers and defied death.
- The Night Seattle Danced Until Two: A Steamer Excursion from Steilacoom
In July 1859, the steamer Julia carried Olympia and Steilacoom society across the Sound to Seattle, where three supper tables and a hall full of dancers made territorial news.
- The Collector of Customs and the Steamer Eliza Anderson
A dramatic standoff between a local Customs Collector and a naval lieutenant highlights the administrative dysfunction and power struggles in Port Angeles.
- A Miraculous Escape on Puget Sound: Two Steamers Collide Near Steilacoom
The steamer Northerner and a second vessel met suddenly on the water in October 1858, crushing the little steamer’s bow and nearly sending its captain into the Sound.
- Who Left Four Men Clinging to the Buckeye?
When the steamer Buckeye swamped in Rosario Strait, survivors say Captain Hahn rowed ashore with the crew and never sent help back for the men freezing on the wreck.
- The Smallpox Ship at the Wharf
In September 1876, Port Townsend citizens met at the Old Court House to demand accountability after the steamer Dakota brought smallpox into their port.
- The Canal That Was Going to Bring the Farm Into Seattle
In 1895, boosters promised the Lake Washington Ship Canal would cut freight transfers for farmers, float logs from Sammamish, and let Newcastle coal load almost at the pit mouth.
- A Steamer Sinks in Olympia Harbor
High tides, thick fog, and unmarked obstructions lead to the disaster of the steamer Multnomah.
- The Day the Steamers Left Puget Sound
An 1861 Steilacoom editor warns that losing ocean steamship service will isolate Washington Territory and strangle its growth.
- The River Wakes Up—and Newport's Steamboats Go Adrift
After three weeks frozen, Pend Oreille navigation resumes, but a broken boom and an ice floe send the Metaline and Fram downstream and leave the Ruth without a dock.
- Two Hundred Lives, One Closed Door: The Pacific Inquiry
Witnesses swore in Port Townsend that the steamer Pacific was rotten when she sailed. Now the very inspectors who certified her seaworthy are investigating her loss — in secret.
- The Sound Goes Silent: Steamboat Crews Strike Over Wage Cuts
A coordinated walkout by skilled engineers and captains across Puget Sound brings mail service to a halt as operators face the reality of losing their irreplaceable workforce.
- A Squall Off Chuckanut: The Mail Steamer Buckeye Goes Down
The steamer Buckeye capsized in Bellingham Bay in 1893, leaving passengers and crew clinging to a lifeboat and raft. All but one survived.
- The Buckeye Went Down in a Gale—and One Passenger Almost Made It
The steamer Buckeye broke up in the Salish Sea; a rescued stockman described how shifting cattle, a swamped lifeboat, and freezing water killed H. Kautzman within sight of help.
- The Winnifred Burns: A Lake Washington Steamer Lost at the Dock
An early-morning fire at Leech's Dock destroyed the Newcastle-run steamer Winnifred, a wharf and a boardinghouse, exposing how much of Seattle still depended on borrowed hose and luck.
- The Vanishing Steamer: Seattle Waits in Fog for the 'Port Albert'
Passengers and agents grow anxious as the British-American steamer goes missing off the Pacific Northwest coast, sparking fears of a wreck or mechanical failure.
- The Steamer Glide’s Heavy Load: A Narrow Escape on the Skagit
When a steamer faced a brutal northwest gale, a terrified deckhand tried to dump the cargo overboard, sparking a confrontation in the middle of a choppy sea.
- The Battle for the Steamer Delta
A bitter dispute over ownership and control of a Puget Sound steamer leads to a legal standoff and a libel suit.
- The Little Steamer That Ate the Sound
The Flyer ran four Seattle–Tacoma trips a day, kept to the minute through fog, and logged a record 84,000 miles in a year.
Also about this, in other words
- The Steamship That Could Not Escape the Law
A legal tug-of-war on the Seattle waterfront sees a steamer caught in a cycle of seizure, release, and re-attachment.
- Battle over Historic Steamer Boiler on South Tenth Street
Civic leaders and the Historical Society are at odds over the permanent placement of a steam-powered relic.
- The Trickle-Down Fury of the Waterfront
A brutal hierarchy on a Seattle steamboat illustrates the chaotic and abusive nature of labor relations in the 1889 maritime trade.
- The Steamer Stella and Her Pocket-Knife Crew
Traveling the Chehalis River was a rugged endeavor that relied on passenger grit and a box of matches.
- The Fire That Saved Us: A Call for a Second Steamer
A Seattle resident writes to the Post-Intelligencer arguing that the recent downtown blaze proves the city’s single fire engine is no longer enough—and demands an immediate duplicate.
- The Steamer's Narrow Escape
A brush with disaster on the Snohomish River turns into a local scandal involving the engine room and a bottle of spirits.
- The Steamer Gerome Opens a New Era for River Trade
A historic steamboat navigates the treacherous rapids of the Columbia River, bringing a new lifeline of commerce to Kennewick.
- The Steamer Nellie's Grand Entrance
Snohomish celebrates the launch of a custom-built steamer, signaling a new era of river navigation.