''Old Settler'' was a
sternwheel steamboat that operated on
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
from 1878 to 1895.
Career
''Old Settler'' was built at
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
European ...
in 1878, and was said to have been “cheaply constructed” and “undersized”.
[Wright, ed., ''Lewis and Dryden Marine History'', at 262.][Newell, ''Ships of the Inland Sea'', at 77-80, 82, 165.] The engines, boiler, and whistle were all second hand. The steam whistle had come from a much larger vessel, and blowing the whistle would cause loss of power and a consequent rapid drop in speed due to the amount of steam expended for the blast. This defect allowed the very slow ''Capital'' to outrun ''Old Settler'' on a number of occasions.
[
Upon completion, ''Old Settler'' was placed on the run from the territorial capital, ]Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
, to Shelton, Washington
Shelton is a city in, and the county seat of, Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...
. The chief competition on this route at the time, at least in the same class of vessel as ''Old Settler'' was the steam scow ''Capital'' which was driven by an old threshing machine engine. The harbor at Olympia is deep enough now for ocean-going ships, but this is a result of dredging by the Corps of Engineers. In its natural state, the Olympia harbor was quite shallow, so shallow draft vessels such as ''Old Settler'' and ''Capital'' had an advantage over other vessels.[
The boat's original owners ran into financial difficulties and the vessel passed into the hands of Struve, Haines & Leary, a Seattle law firm. The law firm then transferred the vessel to Capt. Simon H. Randolph (d. 1909). For a time ''Old Settler'' was operated as a tow boat. Captain Randolph had a reputation for frugality, but even he could not make ''Old Settler'' into a profitable vessel.][ At some point prior to 1895, the boat's machinery was removed and sold to a Seattle printer. The vessel then drifted under a pier in Seattle and sank.][
]
Notes
References
* Affleck, Edward L., ''A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska'', Alexander Nicolls Press, Vancouver, BC 2000
* 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)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Settler (Sternwheeler)
1878 ships
Steamboats of Washington (state)
Sternwheelers of Washington (state)
Ships built in Olympia, Washington