The Steamship Race of the Century on Puget Sound
A high-speed duel between two rival steamboats turns into a thirteen-mile grudge match across the Sound.
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.
One of the most exciting little races of speed which has taken place on Puget Sound occurred yesterday afternoon between the tug Tyee and the lighthouse tender Manzanita. It seems that the Tyee was coming down the Sound at her greatest rate of speed. Soon after she passed West Point, the Manzanita, which had been discharging coal at that place, put out after her. After a chase of four miles, she passed the Tyee just off Fally Point and succeeded in widening the distance between the two boats until the Manzanita was some three hundred yards in advance. About that time, the black smoke from the Tyee's funnel commenced to thicken and grew blacker, showing that those on board of her intended to give her a chance to see what she could do. The Manzanita people were not idle, and their boat increased her speed. After the boats had traveled about five miles, the Manzanita began to lose a little on her rival, but the gain was hardly perceptible until the boat came alongside the Tyee. After running neck and neck for a few minutes, the powerful Tyee proved herself too much for the lighthouse tender and gradually gained on her until, on reaching Alki Point, after a race of thirteen miles, the Tyee led the Manzanita one hundred yards. The race ended as the tug turned down the Sound and the leader headed for Seattle.
“The black smoke from the Tyee's funnel commenced to thicken and grew blacker, showing that those on board of her intended to give her a chance to see what she could do.”
Steamboat racing was a common, dangerous, and beloved spectator sport in 19th-century Seattle. Today, the race is run by the Washington State Ferry system, where 'racing' the schedule is significantly less dramatic and decidedly more regulated.
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