The Perilous Journey of the Steamer Mikado
Crews spent five weeks dragging the steamer Mikado toward Snohomish, then left it at Squire's ranch until winter rains.
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.
Captain John Brooks, who has been working with Captain Bergman bringing the steamer Mikado around from Lake Washington to run her between Everett and Snohomish, came in yesterday and reported having had a hard time. They got her down as far as Squire's ranch, but Captain Brooks thinks they will have to leave her there until the water rises in the winter. They have now been about five weeks getting her as far along as she is. In some places the water was not more than six inches deep, but the bottom was sandy and the keel sunk right down in it, keeping the boat perfectly upright. They pull her along as far as they can with block and tackle and then all hands jump out into the water and shovel sand until she is loosened up so they can move her a little further.
“They pull her along as far as they can with block and tackle and then all hands jump out into the water and shovel sand until she is loosened up.”
Long before modern dredging and managed water levels, moving vessels between regional waterways was an agonizing feat of manual labor and luck. It highlights the immense difficulty of early regional transit in the Pacific Northwest.
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