The Grand Arrival of a Hudson River Steamer
After a perilous journey around Cape Horn, the City of Kingston makes her debut in Bellingham Bay.
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.
Word was received about noon Tuesday that the steamer City of Kingston had started on her first trip around the sound from Tacoma and would arrive in Fairhaven about five o'clock. She steamed up to the wharf with a long whistle and flags and streamers floating from her rigging. Built for the Hudson river route, she was purchased for $30,000 by the Puget Sound and Alaska Navigation company. After being strengthened for her trip around Cape Horn, she was reported lost with all hands during a storm, but eventually arrived in Port Townsend after a rough journey. Thursday, she steamed into Bellingham Bay and made her first stop at Fairhaven’s wharf to the sound of three rousing cheers. She is a three-decker, admirably proportioned for both strength and speed, with cabins and state-rooms fitted up in elegance.
“She steamed up to the wharf with a long whistle and flags and streamers floating from her rigging.”
The City of Kingston represented the height of maritime transit in 1890, linking the isolated bay cities to the wider sound. Today, while we rely on modern ferries and highways, this excitement reflects the era when a new boat meant the difference between a town's growth and its stagnation.
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