❖ Elliott Bay Shrimp Fleet ❖

1940

KAHLENBERG (ex-Navy Patrol craft 1138)
The 50' steamer was built at Mare Island, N.Y., in 1913.
Operated for a time on Puget Sound as a demonstration
boat for Kahlenberg Oil Engines, she was refitted
with a 25 HP steam engine and Scotch boiler.
Capt. France "Franz" Nelson, a former tugboat
master in Alaska purchased the KAHLENBERG to
use as a shrimper at Seattle, with his
wife Elsie, serving as crew, and sometimes son, Bill.
Click image to enlarge.
Original photo from the Marine Studio, Seattle, WA.
from the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

The last surviving vessel of a once-numerous Elliott Bay shrimp fishing fleet was Capt. Franz Nelson's KAHLENBERG, a former naval tender assigned to Oriental waters, and with a gun mounted in front of the pilot house. Fishing grounds were the full width of Elliott Bay between the foot of Yesler Way and Smith Cove. The secret of successful shrimp fishing in Elliott Bay's deep waters was to know the locations of not less than six sunken vessels upon which drag nets would snag and tear, also where mounds of earth were deposited off Elliott Avenue during the Denny Regrade operations. 
      The dragnet on the stern was 15' W x 25' L and attached to a cable, lifted by a steam winch. The average haul lasted for 30 minutes and covered c. one fourth of a mile or so, depending on the wind and tide.
      A good haul often will yield 30 to 50 pounds of shrimp. But a haul would often lead to mostly rubbish or fish. One that brings up no shrimp; fishermen call that a "skunk" haul.
      The shrimp are cooked in boiling water and live steam within 30 minutes of being caught.
      In more recent history, Advanced Diver Magazine has an interesting report on diving on the bottom of Lake Union searching for historic vessels. One of the two vessels on the bottom of Lake Union that they chose to feature on their website is the wreck of the KAHLENBERG. They have been working with the Department of Natural Resources and the Center for Wooden Boats to explore and document the wrecks that litter the bottom of Lake Union. You can view their findings here.
Some of this text was reported in the Seattle-Times August 1940. 
Gordon Newell, editor. H.W. McCurdy's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Superior Publishing.

❖ HIS DREAM CAME TRUE ❖

OWEN TRONSDAL GOT HIS OWN STERN-WHEELER, 
after 40 years.

JOHN EDWARD 
On the Swinomish Channel at LaConner, WA. 
Undated postcard by Puget Sound Mail & Printing.
From the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

If Owen "Tony" Tronsdal acted like a kid with a new toy when he was around his 65-ft sternwheeler, that was because he was realizing a dream that had been on his mind for 40 years––since he was 10.
      Ever since he saw his first sternwheeler chug up the Skagit River to disgorge passengers and take on peas, oats and vegetable crops, he has had one consuming passion––to own his own sternwheeler.
      And then the dream that came true right before his eyes. A beautiful river queen took shape near Tronsdal's auto mechanics shop in Conway. 
      Neighbors and pals dropped around to watch the big flat-bottomed boat grow and none have been able to resist hopping aboard to lend a hand. 
      Glen Seehorn, Mt. Vernon, stopped at the building site in LaConner to see how his old friend Tony was doing with his new toy. He wound up spending three days getting the boat up on dollies and moving it a mile to the water.

Top: inscribed, Diesel Sternwheeler
JOHN EDWARD, Conway, WA.
April 1966
Bottom: LaConner, WA., 3 Feb. 1963.
Photos courtesy of Capt. Jack Russell, Seattle, WA.

      It was floated to Fresh Water Slough on the South Fork of the Skagit. 
      This all began in 1961 when Tronsdal and his wife decided they wanted a summer home. Tony conceived the idea of a sternwheeler that would serve a dual purpose––satisfy his life-long dream of piloting his own sternwheeler and provide a summer home at the same time.
      As the boat took shape Tony was asked by so many people to hire out for a trip up the Skagit that he finally decided he would turn the paddle-wheeler into a commercial venture and sell tours from Mount Vernon to the mouth of the Skagit, 12 miles. 
      Tony wouldn't say how much the boat cost, but did admit "you could buy a nice house, I mean, a nice modern house, for the price of this boat."
      The first thing Tony did when he decided to proceed was hire the best boat builder he could find. This was Howard Boling, a commercial fisherman in season and a boat builder in the offseason. 
      The vessel contained a 180-HP GMC Gray Marine Diesel engine for power that took it easily at eight knots. The paddle is 10-ft in diameter and 11-ft wide. The boat itself was built 65-ft overall in length and 18-ft in beam. 
      The hull is 100% Alaska cedar and only galvanized bolts were used throughout. An extra slab of concrete five and one-half inches thick backs up the heavy decking in the bow. "No deadhead is going to poke through and sink this baby," Tronsdal said.
      The wheel itself is a masterpiece. Two young men in Mt. Vernon High School, Bill and Albert Olson, asked if they could have the privilege of outfitting the paddle-wheeler with its wheel. One brother worked on it for two years and when he graduated from shop class a second brother moved in to finish the job. It is five feet in diameter and made of mahogany and teak.
      Tronsdal was asked to sell his blueprints.

      "There aren't any. This baby came right out of my head. I just drew a picture of what I wanted and some details and Boling started building her. And who's there to go to for advice on building a stern-wheeler? Nobody. They're all dead and gone."
      The vessel was named after Tony's son, John Edward Tronsdal. He was 10 years old at the time, the same age as when Tronsdal saw his first sternwheeler.
Text by Willis Tucker for The Skagit Herald, 22 March 1966
JOHN EDWARD lived to go on to other owners under the name of EMERALD QUEEN. 
Well, it is only 2 1/2 years but I said I would get back with more history on this vessel.

1979:
Capt. Owen (Tony) Tronsdal of Conway, Skagit County, formed a partnership and revived the 12-year old sternwheeler, JOHN EDWARD, with Capt. Ray Hughes of Mukilteo, a skipper for WA. State Ferries.  They called their business the Skagit Bay Navigation Co. They began by mooring her at St. Vincent de Paul's on Lake Union but loaded passengers from the Puget Sound Excursion Line dock at Fisherman's Terminal in Ballard. They hoped to cater to tourists, church groups, and senior citizens, to show the fantastic points of interest along Seattle's inland waters. Then next we see a new owner––

EMERALD QUEEN
(ex-JOHN EDWARD)
Built 1967
Capt. Alan W. Cox out for sea trials on Lake Union.
March 1987.
Click image to enlarge.
Low res scan of an original photo from the archives of
the Saltwater People Hist Society©

1987: In March the Seattle Times announced a new cruise in town with the EMERALD QUEEN, Capt. Alan W. Cox taking a test run. For a $3. ticket a person could glide all day along the shores of Lake Union on the sternwheeler. The QUEEN was licensed for 49 passengers with speed on the lake at 7-knots. Several restaurants had signed on including the Hungry Turtle, the Lakeside, Arnie's Northshore Restaurant, Franco's Latitude 47, Triples, and the Rusty Pelican. 
      


      

❖ Lake Washington Ship Canal ❖ Opens 1917

Opening Day 1956,
Photo by Larry Dion
Original from the archives of the S.P.H.S.©

Lake Washington Ship Canal and Portage Bay

   "The opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917 was important in the history of Northwest yachting. Construction of the canal was justified on the basis of commercial usage, but the effect on pleasure craft has been great. It not only made a large freshwater area available for racing, cruising, mooring, repair, and construction facilities, but as a result, lakefront owners could now keep boats to use for both freshwater and saltwater pleasures.
      The combination of protected water and excellent spectator space in the middle of a large metropolitan area makes possible what may be the largest and best known Opening Day of the yachting world.    
      After years of considering alternative canal routes (a cut through Beacon Hill, for example) and after facing opposition by such groups as the mill owners on Salmon Bay, ground was broken for lock construction in 1911. In 1915 the part of Lake Union east of the old Latona St. Bridge was renamed Portage Bay in commemoration of the traditional way of transporting boats, logs, and other materials from Lk Washington to Lk Union. In October 1916, the canal was opened from Salmon Bay to Lake Union, and the following May it was open for navigation to Lk Washington.
      An earlier canal had existed. According to the abstract of title for property on Portage Bay owned by the Seattle Yacht Club, in 1861 this federal property (obtained from the American Indians by treaty) was sold by the appropriate board of commissioners to raise funds to build a territorial university. Harvey Pike, the purchaser, obtained 161.83 acres at the north end of what is now the Montlake District for $242.75.
      Pike tried with a pick and shovel to connect the two lakes with a small canal but