Yosemite on the left in Victoria Harbour in the 1890s. The enormous beam of the vessel, made necessary by the sidewheels, is readily apparent, as well as the extensive ornamentation of the all-wooden vessel.
Yosemite was built in 1862 at the yard of John Gunder North, in San Francisco. For a vessel built entirely of wood, Yosemite was enormous. She was 282' long after her rebuild following the 1865 boiler explosion, when 30' was added to her length.,[1] 35' beam (80' over the paddle guards) and 13' depth of hold, and rated at 1525 tons. She was a side-wheel steamer built entirely of wood with a single-cylinder "walking-beam" steam engine with a 57" bore and a 122" stroke.[2] Another source gives slightly different dimensions: 283.2' long, 34.8' on the beam, 13.6' depth of hold, and 1,319 tons.[3] Her paddle wheels were 32' in diameter and fitted with 10' long "buckets" (the maritime world for the wooden planks fitted to the wheel that acted as paddles) Turner, one of the most prominent Pacific Northwest maritime historians, described Yosemite as follows:
The Yosemite was a beautiful ship, with broad spacious decks and ample cabin, dining and lounge space. She was also powerful and fast, although somewhat unstable in exposed water during rough weather.[2]
Service in California
California Steam Navigation poster 1863
Yosemite was first placed in service by the California Steam Navigation Company in 1863 to run with Chrysopolis on the Sacramento River.[3][4] Daily service, Sundays excepted, was provided from San Francisco leaving at 4pm for Sacramento.
On October 12, 1865, as she was leaving the Rio Vista landing bound down river, her boiler (supposedly a safer "low-pressure" model) exploded, killing 58 people and scalding and injuring many more.[5] Four days after the explosion some 25 to 30 people were missing in addition to the enumerated dead and wounded.[6] According to a news account, "Abaft the wheelhouses no damage whatever was done, the exploding boilers lifting forward and upward, but filling the forecastle, called the Chinese saloon, with steam sufficient to kill the 30 Chinese therein instantly."[7] Two deckhands who survived the explosions then looted the bodies—they were found in possession of multiple watches, gold dust, and a great deal of cash, "the most of the money being in cloth packages marked with Chinese characters."[7] Four employees of Maguire's Opera House were killed, and a newly elected California state senator from Amador County, G. W. Seaton, was among the dead.[8] J. W. Haskin, a former state senator from Mono County, was "blown into the river and swam to the opposite shore."[9] The Chinese immigrants killed on the Yosemite were buried at Rio Vista.[6] As of 1960, there were plans to redevelop the "potter's field" where they were buried into a historic site and park.[10]
She was equipped with new boilers then, and once again in 1876, after which she could reach a speed of 17 miles (27km) an hour. Railroad competition in California forced her to be laid up at Oakland from 1879 to 1883.
Purchase by Canadian Pacific Navigation Company
Commodore John Irving, who bought Yosemite for the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company
Yosemite proved to be a good purchase for Commodore Irving. Despite her reputation arising from the 1865 boiler explosion, Yosemite ran in Canadian waters for many years without significant trouble.[2] In 1883, she set a speed record of four hours and 20 minutes for the 72-nautical-mile (133km) run from Vancouver to Victoria, which stood until 1901, when the transpacific liner Moana made the run in four hours and one minute.[2] In those times, ships were subject to health quarantines, in particular for smallpox. Officials were sometimes too quick to declare a smallpox quarantine, which happened twice in July 1892 to Yosemite. Twice she was barred at Vancouver from landing passengers coming from Victoria and each time she simply landed them further up Burrard Inlet. Court action was necessary to persuade the Vancouver officials to allow Yosemite to land in their city.[2]
Purchase by Canadian Pacific Railway
In 1901, the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased all the steamship operations and vessels of the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, including Yosemite, which with other older steamers of the line was placed in reserve to fill in for newer ships taken out for service, and to cover times of high traffic such as in the summer months.[2] By this time, Yosemite was almost 40 years old.
Sale to Puget Sound excursion lines
Advertisement for excursion on Yosemite
In 1906, the Canadian Pacific Railway sold Yosemite to the Puget Sound Excursion Company.[2] This company had been organized by Capt. Thomas Grant to run cruises and excursions out of Seattle in connection with the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. Once in Seattle, Yosemite was rebuilt somewhat by John B. Mitchell. The main deck and social hall were extended all the way forward to be flush with the bow, and a large dancing pavilion was installed.[3]
By the spring of 1907, Yosemite was in operation under command of Captain Grant, carrying up to 1,000 passengers at a time from Seattle to Bremerton and around Bainbridge Island. Music was provided by Wagner's Band and food service by Lord and Meeks, a well-known Seattle catering firm.[3]
The surviving photographs of Yosemite seem to always show an astounding number of people on her decks. This was in spite of the then recent loss of the General Slocum in New York, also a wooden sidewheeler, in which over 1,000 people had been killed in a fire, and the resulting threat by the Puget Sound steamboat inspectors to strictly enforce the limits on passengers that could be embarked on excursions and cruises.[11]
Among other trips, in 1908, Yosemite carried almost the entire student body of the University of Washington out into Puget Sound to greet the Great White Fleet. In this particular trip, the vessel was obviously grossly overloaded, as the weight of the passengers caused her to heel so sharply over to port that the water came up to the bottom of the port side paddle wheel guard.[12]
Boxing matches were held on her lower deck.[4] Perhaps somewhat incongruously with hosting boxing matches, Yosemite on July 20, 1907 or 1908, advertised a "Grand Temperance Excursion" tickets $1.00 each "under the auspices of the International Order of Good Templars":
The route will cover a trip to the beauty spots of Puget Sound, Port Madison, Agate Passage, etc., the U.S. Navy Yard at Bremerton and the Big Warships, the new "Nebraska," the old "Oregon," and half dozen others; the West Passage of Vashon Island, the Narrows of Puget Sound and the beautiful island vicinity above.[12]
Another typical charter excursion was carrying the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department, who were all employees of the Rainier Brewery.[13] In one atypical incident, in August, 1907, Yosemite rammed 30 feet (9.1m) into a dock in Seattle, knocking over a horse and wagon, apparently becoming the only paddlewheeler to collide with a harnessed horse.[14]
Wrecked
Yosemite wrecked with salvage barge alongside
Yosemite was wrecked on July 9, 1909 at Port Orchard Narrows, in broad daylight. The circumstances of the wreck were never entirely cleared up. As she approached Bremerton through the narrows at about 6:20p.m., with Capt. Mike Edwards in command, she suddenly veered sharply towards the shore at about 14 miles per hour (23km/h). Striking ground, her back was broken and she was a total loss. The captain said he expected the current to strike her differently than it did.[3] Although there were over 1,000 people on board, no one was killed or drowned, with the passengers and crew being taken on board the steamer Transport, the first on the scene, with Inland Flyer and Norwood standing by.[1][15]
Yosemite had recently been sold to real estate promoter C. D. Hillman. He later was sent to prison, and this gave rise to talk and accusations that she had been wrecked recklessly or even deliberately for insurance.[3] This doesn't seem to square with the facts, as it would have required the collusion not only of her master, but also the pilot and two quartermasters who struggled to hold the ship on course, and strong tidal currents had wrecked and continue to wreck vessels.[1]
1 2 3 Newell, Gordon R., Ships of the Inland Sea, at 89-91, Bindford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1960)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Turner, Robert D., Pacific Princesses – An Illustrated History of Canadian Pacific Railway's Princess Fleet on the Pacific Northwest Coast, at 11, 14-15, 23-24, 39-40, 92, 233, Sono Nis Press, Victoria, B.C., 1977 ISBN0-919462-04-9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Newell, Gordon R., ed., H.W. McCurdy Maritime History of the Pacific Northwest, at 121, n.5, and 167-68, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966
1 2 Faber, Jim, Steamer's Wake – Voyaging down the old marine highways of Puget Sound, British Columbia, and the Columbia River, at 24 and 147, Enetai Press, Seattle, WA 1985 ISBN0-9615811-0-7 (reprinting photographs of Yosemite departing San Francisco and docked in Sacramento)
1 2 Newell, Gordon R., and Williamson, Joe, Pacific Steamboats, at 3 and 20-21, Bonanza Books, New York NY 1958
↑ Faber, at 180-81 (reprinting photograph of Georgetown Vol. Fire Dept. excursion; as with many photographs of Yosemite during this time, the decks were extremely crowded.)
↑ Downs, Art, Paddlewheels on the Frontier, at 38, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1972
The steamship Virginia V is the last operational example of a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet steamer. She was once part of a large fleet of small passenger and freight carrying ships that linked the islands and ports of Puget Sound in Washington state in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is a Seattle landmark and a National Historic Landmark.
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.
Bonnington was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia from 1911 to 1931. Bonnington and two sisterships were the largest sternwheelers ever built in British Columbia. Bonnington was partially dismantled in the 1950s, and later sank, making the vessel the largest freshwater wreck site in British Columbia.
The Bailey Gatzert was a sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. This vessel was considered one of the finest of its time. It was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle, who was one of the closest friends and business associates of John Leary – the person who financed the ship.
The sternwheeler Multnomah was built at East Portland, Oregon in 1885 and operated on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers until 1889 in the United States. She was later transferred to Puget Sound and became one of the better known steamboats operating there.
Athlon was a typical passenger steamboat of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.
The steamboat Urania was a vessel that operated on Lake Washington and Puget Sound in the first part of the 20th century.
The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This Puget Sound steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello, which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.
The steamboat George E. Starr operated in late 19th century as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet and also operated out of Victoria, B.C. Geo. E. Starr also served for a time in California and on the Columbia River.
Olympian was a large side-wheel inland steamship that operated in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Olympian operated from early 1884 to late 1891 on the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska.
The PS Eliza Anderson operated from 1858 to 1898 mainly on Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Fraser River but also for short periods in Alaska. She was generally known as the Old Anderson and was considered slow and underpowered even for the time. Even so, it was said of her that "no steamboat ever went slower and made money faster." She played a role in the Underground Railroad and had a desperate last voyage to Alaska as part of the Klondike Gold Rush.
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.
Wilson G. Hunt was a steamboat that ran in the early days of steam navigation on Puget Sound and Sacramento, Fraser, and Columbia Rivers. She was generally known as the Hunt during her years of operation. She had a long career on the west coast of the United States and Canada, and played an important transportation role in the California Gold Rush; it also transported the Governor and the state legislature as the state capital of California moved from Benicia to Sacramento in 1854.
Flyer was an American steamboat that served from 1891 to 1929 on Puget Sound. From 1918 until the end of her service, she was officially known as the Washington. The Flyer ran for millions of miles at high speed, more than any inland vessel in the world. This 1891 steamer Flyer should not be confused with the steamboat Flyer built on Lake Coeur d'Alene in 1905, although the Coeur d'Alene vessel was inspired both in design and name by the success of the Puget Sound ship.
Asbury Park was a high-speed coastal steamer built in Philadelphia, and intended to transport well-to-do persons from New York to summer homes on the New Jersey shore. This vessel was sold to West Coast interests in 1918, and later converted to an automobile ferry, serving on various routes San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound and British Columbia. This vessel was known by a number of other names, including City of Sacramento, Kahloke, Langdale Queen, and Lady Grace.
Tacoma was a steamship that served from 1913 to 1938 on Puget Sound. Built of steel, Tacoma was known for being one of the fastest and best-designed vessels to operate on Puget Sound. Tacoma was particularly noted for high-speed service from 1913 to 1930 on the route between Tacoma and Seattle.
Cyrene was a steamboat that operated initially on Puget Sound and later on Lake Washington from 1891 to 1914. Cyrene and another similar vessel Xanthus were somewhat unusual in that they had clipper bows and were both originally built as yachts.
Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.
The steamship General Frisbie was a wooden two-deck passenger ship built in 1900, named after John B. Frisbie. She was designed for use as a ferry between Vallejo and San Francisco. The steamer was successful in that role and was the fastest ship on the route when she began service. Improved roads, bridges, and automobiles reduced demand for ferry service in the Bay Area, and newer ships were optimized for transporting cars, so General Frisbie was retired in the late 1920s.
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