The New Life of the Black Diamond
A Snohomish captain purchases a small steamer to ply the rivers of the Sound, reviving a vessel from his past.
Captain Howe, of this place, has just purchased from Ackerson & Co. of Tacoma and San Francisco, the little screw-propeller steamer Black Diamond, and last night brought her down here. The price paid for her was a little over a thousand dollars. When the Black Diamond was new, there were few that were better on the Sound. Her present owner will run her out of Snohomish, employing her principally in the trade up the rivers emptying into the north side of the Sound.
“When the Black Diamond was new, there were few that were better on the Sound.”
This reflects the vital importance of river transit in the 1870s for Snohomish, long before the highway system took over. Steamboats like the Black Diamond were the 'delivery trucks' of their day, essential for moving goods and people through the dense wilderness.
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