Inland Flyer

Inland Flyerbacking away from a landing, circa 1904.
History
Name	Inland Flyer
Owner	;La Conner Trading & Trans. Co.;Puget Sound Nav. Co.
Route	Puget Sound,Hood Canal
Completed	1898
Identification	US registry #100660
Fate	Dismantled, machinery reused, hull converted to fish barge 1916
General characteristics
Type	inland steamboat
Tonnage	151 gross; 103 regist.
Length	105.5 ft (32.16 m)
Beam	32.1 ft (9.78 m)
Depth	4.8 ft (1.46 m) depth of hold
Installed power	triple expansion compound steam engine
Propulsion	propeller
Crew	fifteen (15)

Inland Flyerwas a passenger steamboat that ran onPuget Soundfrom 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as theMohawk.The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel.Inland Flyerwas one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.

Design and construction

Inland Flyerwas built in 1898 atPortland, Oregon,and was originally intended to run between Portland,Astoria,andThe Dalles.Capt. John Anderson,who later became closely linked withsteamboat operations on Lake Washington,discoveredInland Flyerengineless and still under construction at the shipyard of Joseph Supple in Portland, and recommended her purchase toJoshua Green.

Anderson bought the hull, and sold it to Green and his associates who were doing business asLa Conner Trading and Transportation Company.Anderson then installed the engines and the upper works himself in Portland, and brought the ship himself down the Columbia River and around the Olympic peninsula.

Conversion to oil burner

On May 21, 1904 plans were announced in the press to convertInland FlyerandAthlonfrom coal to oil fuel. The decision was reached after officials of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, including its president, Charles Peabody, had taken a test trip on the Northern Commercial Company's sidewheelerSadie,which was intended for use in Alaska and had been fitted with oil fuel tanks and burned oil rather than wood or coal. Oil was thought to be both cleaner and as cheap or cheaper than coal. The conversion was planned to be complete in thirty days.Inland Flyerthus became the first steam vessel on Puget Sound to use oil fuel, rather than wood or coal, and was the first steamer operating on Puget Sound to use oil fuel.

Operations

In 1901, La Conner Trading reached a joint operating agreement with H.B. Kennedy to run their steamers in alliance on the profitableSeattle-Bremerton route,which they called thePort OrchardRoute.In 1902Inland Flyerwas on the Seattle – Port Orchard route, running with theAthlon,which was owned by H.B. Kennedy. There was a brief period of competition on this route in 1902 when theManette,a boat owned by Tacoma interests, with businessman Fred H. Marvin acting as agent, was placed on the route.Manettewas soon transferred to the Seattle –Alkirun, and the competition ended.

In 1903Inland Flyercame under the control of thePuget Sound Navigation Companywhen that company merged with La Conner Trading.Capt. Peter Falk (d.1924) one of the major shareholders of Puget Sound Navigation Co. served as one of masters of theInland Flyer.Another captain was the veteran steamboat man William Mitchell (b. 1879).On May 23, 1903,Inland Flyerwas among the steamboats that greeted PresidentTheodore Rooseveltwhen he toured the Seattle and the Bremerton naval yard.In 1907Inland Flyerwas placed on the run from Seattle to Bremerton.

By 1904, La Conner Trading, by then a subsidiary of PSN, was operating jointly with H.B. Kennedy as theNavy Yard Routeon the Seattle – Bremerton run. Disposing of three vessels, includingInland Flyer,Athlon,and the sternwheelerPort Orchard,the Navy Yard route ran six sailings a day from Seattle'sPier 2to and from Bremerton.

Rate wars

In 1905, the Puget Sound Navigation Company was engaged in a rate war on theHood Canalroute. There were only two steamers at that time that ran on Hood Canal, one was thePerdita,operated by Capt. W.W. McKenzie, and the other was PSN'sGarland.PSN arranged to have McKenzie andPerditabought off with an anti-competitive subsidy agreement, but this did not last, and McKenzie andPerditawere soon back on Hood Canal, driving down rates onGarlandfrom $2.00 to 50 cents ton, with passengers carried from Seattle to any landing on the canal for 25 cents. In addition, PSN was forced to put theInland Flyeron the Hood Canal route. Considered a speedy vessel,Inland Flyer,together withGarlandbrought the best steamboat service ever effected on Hood Canal. However, by the end of 1905, PSN resolved the problem of competition fromPerditaby purchasing the rival vessel.

The first decade of the 1900s was probably the high point of steamboat operations in Puget Sound. The vessels would never been as profitable as they were then.During 1907, when the Puget Sound Navigation Company was involved in a rate war with theKitsap County Transportation Company,Inland Flyerwas shifted to the Seattle –Poulsboroute as part of the business maneuvers in the competition.Greene, who was by then a millionaire, and owned more steamboats than any other person on Puget Sound, was criticized in at least one newspaper for his supposed ruthlessness in dealing with Warren L. Gazzam, the chief of the Kitsap County Transportation Co.

In 1908, thePort Blakely Mill Companydecided to run its steamerMonticello 2in competition with the Navy Yard Route's steamers, includingInland Flyer.On July 9, 1909, at thewreck of theYosemite,Inland Flyerstood by with other vessels to assist, helping make sure there was no loss of life when the big excursion sidewheeler went on the rocks nearBremerton.In 1910 the Navy Yard Route soldInland Flyerto Capt. F.G. Reeve, who was doing business as thePort Washington Route.He renamed the vesselMohawk.

Disposition

Wooden steamboats had a useful life of about 20 years, although their components could be reused, sometimes for much longer.In 1916,Mohawk(exInland Flyer) was dismantled. The engine was placed in a new vessel, the steamerF.G. Reeve,with the hull going toNeah Bayto serve as a fish-receiving barge.

References

• Faber, Jim,Steamer's Wake,Enetai Press, Seattle WA (1985)ISBN0-9615811-0-7
• Kline, M.S., and Bayless, G.A.,Ferryboats -- A legend on Puget Sound,Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983ISBN0-914515-00-4
• Newell, Gordon R., ed.,H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest,Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (1966)
• Newell, Gordon R.,Ships of the Inland Sea,Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (2nd Ed. 1960)
• Port Townsend Daily Leader,“Sound Steamers will Substitute Oil for Coal” May 21, 1904, page 1, col.4
• U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Bureau of Statistics,Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States(for year ending June 30, 1909)

External links

• William A. Hester photograph ofInland Flyer,circa 1900