❖ Faithful Sidewheeler GEORGE E. STARR with Liverpool Tin ❖ 1896

The Steamer GEORGE E. STARR,
launched 1879 at William Hammon's shipyard on the Seattle
waterfront between Cherry and Columbia Streets.
Original photo inscribed from the Marine Salon, Seattle
in the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

"The steamer GEORGE E. STARR made the initial run on the UTOPIA's old route, viz; Tacoma and Seattle to Vancouver via the San Juan islands, last Monday. She left Seattle at midnight Sunday night and arrived here early Monday morning. She had aboard about 100 Chinamen, forty-five of them for the Island Packing Co., of this place, and fifty-five en route to the Alaska Packers Assoc. Canneries at Point Roberts. The tin which has been expected for several days past, arrived on the Thompson yesterday; the Chinamen will at once begin the work of making the cans to be used for the season's pack. The tin, which comes from Liverpool, England, by sailing vessel around the Horn, arrived at Astoria several days ago and came from there by rail to Seattle and here [Friday Harbor] by steamer LYDIA THOMPSON. The STARR will make one round trip a week calling here both ways, and will likely run all summer. The UTOPIA has been put on the Alaska route".
The Islander, Friday Harbor, WA., April 1896

At age 100, Joshua Green (1869-1975) was proclaimed "Commodore of all Puget Sound Fleets", as he looked back on the happiest days of his life, his steamboating for forty years on Puget Sound. 
The head of Puget Sound Navigation Company commented on the GEORGE E. STARR--

"There was a faithful little boat. If you put a load on her, the side paddlewheels went so far down in the water she would hardly go ahead at all! She ran from Bellingham to Seattle. We had a full load of canned salmon on her and she was so slow that it cost us more to feed the passengers than the passage money amounted to. We had a peck of troubles in those days too. It wasn't all easy sailing."

Three photos from the cannery in Friday Harbor, WA. 
Undated.
From the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©.

❖ The Old Cannery Dock (Revisted) ❖

Original photo by Levy Smith, undated.
From the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

The below text taken from the handwritten, unsigned inscription on reverse of the fish photo by Levy Smith.
Friday 26 July 1940;
"Arrived at San Juan Salmon Cannery at 7 AM where we stopped several hours to load 10,000 cases of canned salmon. Workmen were Filipino; we were able to follow the complete operation from the unloading by chain belt from the fishing boats outside to the loading of cases on the boat for Seattle where the labels are put on. The fish are flushed with a hose out of the hold of the fishing boat on to chain belt which carries them up to large bins on either side of an elevated runway in the cannery. As they come in, a man separates the different types of salmon directing them on the another belt to the proper bins. From these bins they are again flushed into the chutes leading to the worktable where they are laid in correct position to pass through the beheading and gutting machines, after which the inside is again scraped and cleaned by workmen and conveyed to the cutting and canning machines after which they pass inspection, where doubtful ones are weighed and additional pieces added where necessary. The cans are then topped by machines, air withdrawn and sealed, placed in metal racks in pressure retorts for about 1 1/2 hours. The cans are then cooled and packed for shipping."

❖ STEAM TUG BRICK––Capt. James W. Tarte ❖ by June Burn

Steam tug BRICK
Built in 1883, Seattle, WA.
55.6' x 12.1' x 14.6'
with captain/owner Jim Tarte, on rail on right.
C. C. Fisher is standing on the pilot house.
Location, Bellingham, WA, after a return from B.C.
The houses behind were known as "Captains Row",
along the Boulevard on the waterfront. Undated.
Photo purchased from Whatcom Museum of History and Art.©
This image for non-commercial purposes only.
For a copy of this image,
please contact the W.M.H.A. in Bellingham, WA.

"How, before there were docks, did the passengers get from ship to land in the old days? I asked my captain that and he replied that when the tide was high, rowboats or light-draft scows took them in. But when the tide was out and several hundred yards of mud lay between ship an shore, the passengers waited for the return of the tide or were taken to land pig-back.

      'I've carried many a squealing woman on my back, her squeals getting me so tickled I'd all but drop her into the oozy mud. When the ship would anchor, every man in the crew would shoulder his passenger, set her down on the beach, return for another until passengers and their luggage were all safe ashore. I never dropped a passenger, but after carrying a few through soft mud I've nearly dropped, myself, with fatigue.'

      During the years of 1881 and 1882 Captain Tarte (1849-1932) piloted, first the HOPE, and then the EVANGEL, the latter the first passenger boat between Seattle, Vancouver, and New Westminster.

      The EVANGEL was owned by a Mr. Ludlow of Seattle. One time the pilot was taking a boatload of passengers to Victoria for a May 24 celebration. There was a storm and everybody got seasick. On board was the owner's daughter, Miss Ludlow. She was seasick, too. But she must have been pretty plucky about it. Or maybe seasickness was becoming to her. At any rate, the confirmed bachelor pilot of the EVANGEL fell in love with her then and there, and nine days later was betrothed to a girl who wouldn't marry an Englishman under any consideration. They were married a year later.

      In 1883 Captain Tarte bought one of the first tugboats ever to run on the Sound––the 55.6-ft steam tug BRICK which was later lengthened several feet. He carried freight and towed all manner of things with his little boat. He was one of the first to tow log booms for the first big sawmill. It was owned by Eldridge & Bartlett and was on site of the old E. K. Wood mill, which burned a few years ago. In storms, the captain of the BRICK used to pour oil on the troubled waters, calm his stampeding logs, and so bring them safely to the mill.

      It was a custom of Captain Tarte––one of the earliest and most popular mariners on Puget Sound––to treat 20 school children from the Fairhaven and Sehome schools every Saturday to trips to the islands free of charge. One day Captain Tarte was surprised on his arrival to see a great crowd of people, most of whom were children, at the dock, under the escort of the principal of the Fairhaven school. In recognition of his kindness in giving free outings to the kiddies, the skipper was presented with a set of silverware.

      The captain ran the BRICK for nine years, later as a passenger vessel around this part of the Sound. But at last, he lost her, never having made enough money to pay more than the interest on the money he stilled owed on her.

      Tarte's last active service was as mate on the tug DANIEL KERN during two trips to Clallam Bay at 80-years of age."

Text above by June Burn,
Bellingham Herald, April 1930
With notes added from:
E.W. Wright, editor. Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest
Antiquarian Press Ltd., 1961

Below:
Island Sounder. Friday Harbor, WA. April 1896

"The steamer BRICK came into port [Friday Harbor] with a scow loaded with 24,000-feet of lumber from the Whatcom Falls Mill Co., of Whatcom, for Mr. J. L. Farnsworth. This is part of an order for 100,000-feet to be used in the construction of the new cannery buildings and also for the new scows for the Island Packing Company."