''Quickstep'' was a steamboat that operated from 1877 to 1897 in coastal, inland waters and rivers of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. This vessel should not be confused with a number of other vessels with the same name, some of which operated in the same area about the same time.

Career

''Quickstep'' was built at Astoria and completed in 1877. The vessel ran on the lower Columbia River for some time. There were many owners and operators of ''Quickstep'' and the vessel was run on many different routes. In July 1883, ''Quickstep'', under Capt. Thomas Doig, was brought north from the Columbia River to

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 ...

.''Lewis and Dryden Marine History'', at 252, 253, 307, 397. Apparently ''Quickstep'' had been returned to the Columbia River after that, as it is reported that about 1885, under Capt. George A. Whitcomb (1854–1939), a member of a prominent maritime family, the vessel was running between Astoria and

Grays Harbor Grays Harbor is an estuary, estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington (U.S. state), Washington state, in the United States of America. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the l ...

. ''Quickstep'' is reported to have been transferred to Puget Sound in 1887, or as early as 1885, by being purchased by Capt. J.J. Hansen (later to form Hansen Transportation Company, who had moved from Minnesota to Tacoma, and decided to enter the steamboat business, with ''Quickstep'' being his first vessel.''McCurdy Marine History'', at 20, 23, 49, 345, 477, and 528. For a short time in the early 1890s, ''Quickstep'' is reported to have been operated by Matthew McDowell for towing operations in the Tacoma area. There is also a report that ''Quickstep'' was sold by the Hansens in 1893 so they could replace it with a newer vessel, the ''

Hattie Hansen ''Sechelt'' was an American steamship which operated from 1893 to 1911 on Lake Washington, Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia, mostly as a passenger ferry with routes between Washington state and British Columbia. For most of her career, she wa ...

''. In 1894, Capt. Charles F. Kraft (b. 1831) bought ''Quickstep'' and brought the vessel to

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

. In 1896, Capt. John L. Anderson bought ''Quickstep'' for $1,600 as a replacement for his steamer ''Winnifred'', which had burned in early 1896.

Loss by fire

On 3 January 1897 ''Quickstep'' in turn was lost by fire. Anderson was able to salvage the machinery and install it in a new steamer which he built himself, ''Lady of the Lake'' and launched in 1897.

Notes

References

* Newell, Gordon R., ed., ''H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing Co., Seattle, WA (1966) * {{McDowell Transportation 1877 ships Steamboats of Washington (state) Propeller-driven steamboats of Washington (state) Steamboats of Oregon