Magnolia (steamboat)

Summary

Magnolia was a wooden-hulled steamship that operated on Puget Sound from 1907 to 1937.

Magnolia circa 1912.
History
NameMagnolia
OwnerTacoma & Burton Navigation Co.
RoutePuget Sound
Completed1907, Tacoma
Out of service1937
FateAbandoned.
General characteristics
Length112 ft (34.1 m)
Installed powersteam engine
Propulsionpropeller

Career edit

Magnolia was built at Tacoma in 1907 for the Tacoma and Burton Navigation Company, which intended her to replace Burton on the company's routes around Tacoma and Vashon Island. The company's chief rival was the Vashon Navigation Company, which ran the steamer Vashon, under Captain Chauncey "Chance" Wyman. Once launched, Magnolia, under Capt. Fred Sutter, raced Vashon daily between landings to be the first boat to pick up the business. By 1909, the rate wars had died down, and Magnolia and Vashon were running on different schedules.[1]

Magnolia had been transferred to the route between Seattle and Olympia. For a time in 1911, the steamer Nisqually was run on the same route, but when Nisqually was taken off the route and sent to the Columbia River, Magnolia became the last steamboat to make the Seattle-Olympia run. As passenger fares fell off, Magnolia was converted to a towboat.[1]

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b Newell, Ships of the Inland Sea, at 151, 152, 182, and 188.

References edit

  • Findlay, Jean Cammon and Paterson, Robin, Mosquito Fleet of Southern Puget Sound, (2008) Arcadia Publishing ISBN 0-7385-5607-6
  • Newell, Gordon, Ships of the Inland Sea, Binford and Mort, Portland, OR (2nd Ed. 1960)
  • Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Joe, Pacific Steamboats, Bonanza Books, New York, NY (1963)