The Rosalie Joins the Puget Sound Fleet
A newly built steamship, once intended for Alaska routes, is purchased for the Victoria run, signaling a shift in local maritime competition.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The new steamer Rosalie, which has been the cause of so much talk among steamboat men for the past two months, was yesterday sold by her owner, C. L. Dimond, Jr., to Capt. D. B. Jackson for the sum of $50,000. This is considered quite an important matter in shipping circles, as the Rosalie will, so it is stated, be put on the Victoria run in opposition to the Kingston, and the George E. Starr, which is at present on that run, will go on the Port Angeles route. The Northwestern Steamship Company, of which Mr. Jackson is president, now owns the steamers Rosalie, George E. Starr and Idaho. The Rosalie was built in San Francisco by C. L. Dimond a little over a year ago and was intended for an excursion boat about the harbor, but was brought up to Puget Sound about two months ago and put on the Alaska route. She is a very handsome little steamer, and artistically furnished throughout. The dining hall, which is also used for a social hall, is elegantly furnished with plush upholstered seats, on the Pullman style. Fourteen staterooms, neatly furnished, are on the second deck, and the captain's room back of the pilothouse is on the third. The smoking room forward is roomy and neatly furnished with nice chairs and card tables. She is furnished throughout with electric lights, and, taken in all, is a very trim craft.
“The Rosalie will, so it is stated, be put on the Victoria run in opposition to the Kingston.”
In the 1890s, the battle for control of the Puget Sound routes was the lifeblood of Seattle's economy, as shipping companies vied for dominance over passenger and freight traffic. Today, that competitive spirit remains in the state-run ferry system, which continues to be the primary artery for travel between the mainland and the islands.
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