"Fifty-two ports along the 2,000 miles of Puget Sound shoreline receive regular calls from a small fleet of freight boats, and another 50 had docks at which occasional stops were made. The boats traveled south to Olympia and Shelton, and north to Bellingham and Powell River, B.C. There were six boats in the fleet, the Indian, Lovejoy, Seatac, Belana, Warrior, and Skookum Chief. The third name is derived from Seattle and Tacoma and the fourth name from Bellingham and Anacortes. The freight boats were of shallow draft. Most of them had a large lower deck that ran the full length and width of the boat. The freight was loaded on small sleds at the warehouses. These sleds were carried aboard by gasoline-driven lift trucks and placed on the long, lower deck. At the ports, the process reversed, the freight-laden sleds carried off to the docks. The boats carried crews of 12, including the skipper, other officers, deckhands, lift-truck drivers, and last but far from least important, the cook.
Want to take a trip on one of these boats? Here is a sample log of the motor vessel Indian on one of its trips to Bellingham and the San Juan Islands, Washington State.
Monday, May 23 1948
5:30 a.m. left Pier 53, home dock in Seattle, loaded with general merchandise for Anacortes, Bellingham, and other ports. A photographer aboard.
6:15 a.m. Point Wells, unloaded empty oil drums and took on full ones.
10:50 a.m. Headed through the swift waters under Deception Pass Bridge.
1:20 p.m.
Arriving Bellingham waterfront 1:20 p.m. where the Osage was tied up Photo by Bob and Ira Spring From the archives of the Saltwater People Historial Society© |
Tuesday 4:53 a.m.