Repairs for the Chinook on the Waterfront
A routine dispatch from the January 1891 docks captures the industrial heart of old Seattle, where the tugboat Chinook sits on the beach for repairs at the foot of Jackson Street.
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 tug Chinook is on the beach at the foot of Jackson street for repairs. The St. Paul arrived from San Francisco yesterday afternoon, bringing twenty cabin and thirty-one steerage passengers for Seattle and 830 tons of freight. Her trip was a very pleasant one. She will load coal here for the return voyage. The ships Commodore and McNear and bark Detroit are loading coal at the Oregon Improvement Company’s bunkers. The bark Richard III, with a cargo of 1,600 tons of coal for San Francisco, was towed to sea yesterday by the tug Wanderer. The bark Sumatra expects to take on a cargo of coal at the Smith’s Cove bunkers. The sealing schooner Henry Dennis is nearly ready to sail for San Francisco for her boats. The Biz came in from Port Williams, whither she took a lot of grading outfits. Steamer Henry Bailey came in with a heavy cargo of hay from down Sound. The Phantom came in from Salmon Bay for supplies. Repairs on the Hassalo are approaching completion.
“The tug Chinook is on the beach at the foot of Jackson street for repairs.”
The waterfront of 1891 was a dense, industrial machine fueled by coal, timber, and the constant arrival of coastal vessels. Today, the 'foot of Jackson Street' is the site of the bustling Pioneer Square and waterfront parks, where the ghosts of these tugs and coal bunkers have been replaced by the ferry terminal and high-end tourism, illustrating Seattle's dramatic transition from an extractive port to a corporate hub.
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