The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a multitude of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock. The historical period defining the beginning and end of the mosquito fleet is ambiguous, but the peak of activity occurred between the First and Second World Wars.
The Coos Bay Mosquito Fleet comprised numerous small steamboats and motor vessels which operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on Coos Bay, a large and mostly shallow harbor on the southwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, to the north of the Coquille River valley. Coos Bay is the major harbor on the west coast of the United States between San Francisco and the mouth of the Columbia River.
The Greyhound was an express passenger steamer that operated from the 1890s to about 1915 on Puget Sound in Washington, United States. This vessel, commonly known as the Hound, the Pup, or the Dog, was of unusual design, having small upper works, but an enormous sternwheel. Unlike many sternwheelers, she was not intended for a dual role as passenger and freighter, but was purpose-built to carry mostly passengers on express runs.
The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.
USRC Jefferson Davis was a United States Revenue Cutter Service topsail schooner of the Cushing class built in 1853. She was named for Jefferson Davis, then United States Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, and later president of the Confederate States of America.
The Multnomah was one of the first steamboats to operate on the Willamette and Yamhill rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the Multnomah, a steamboat built in Portland, Oregon in 1885, which was larger and of a much different design.
Zenobia was full-rigged ship built in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1837. She was known for transporting a cargo of ice from Sitka, Alaska, to San Francisco, California.
Elk was a steam tug that operated on Puget Sound, and earlier, from 1880 to 1896, on Lake Washington under the name of Katherine.
Chehalis was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Chehalis River, Puget Sound, and Lake Washington from 1867 to 1882. This vessel should not be confused with other steam vessels named Chehalis.
Quickstep was a steamboat that operated from 1877 to 1897 in coastal, inland waters and rivers of the Pacific Northwest. This vessel should not be confused with a number of other vessels with the same name, some of which operated in the same area about the same time.
Otter was a wooden sternwheel steamboat that was used in Puget Sound and briefly on the Columbia and Stikine rivers from 1874 to 1897.
Alice Gertrude was a wooden steamship which operated on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound from 1898 to January 1907, when she was wrecked at Clallam Bay in Washington.
Albion was a steamboat which ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1924.
The West Seattle Land and Improvement Company was a real estate development concern that conducted business in West Seattle starting in 1888. Through a subsidiary, the Oregon and Washington Ferry and Navigation Company, the company also owned and operated two ferries that operated between the company's developments in West Seattle and Seattle itself, which was then a separate city which was difficult to reach over land routes of the time.
C.C. Calkins was a small steamboat built in 1890 which served on Lake Washington.
Kirkland was a sidewheel steamboat that ran on Lake Washington from 1888 to 1898.
Case Inlet steamboats served the small communities along the shore of Case Inlet in southern Puget Sound from the 1870s to 1924.
The steamboat Arcadia, built in 1929, was one of the last commercial steamboats placed into service on Puget Sound. The vessel later served as a prison tender under the name J.E. Overlade, and after that, as Virginia VI, as an excursion vessel.
South Puget Sound is the southern reaches of Puget Sound in Southwest Washington, in the United States' Pacific Northwest. It is one of five major basins encompassing the entire Sound, and the shallowest basin, with a mean depth of 37 meters (121 ft). Exact definitions of the region vary: the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife counts all of Puget Sound south of the Tacoma Narrows for fishing regulatory purposes. The same agency counts Mason, Jefferson, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston Counties for wildlife management. The state's Department of Ecology defines a similar area south of Colvos Passage.
