SS ''San Mateo'' was a steamship ferry operating on the west coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Launched in 1922, she served until 1940 in

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

, operated by the Southern Pacific Golden Gate Ferries. In 1941 she was acquired by the Puget Sound Navigation Company, and then 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 ...

until its retirement in 1969. At the time of her retirement she was the last operating vehicular steam ferry in the United States. After attempts to restore her for display in a Seattle waterfront park, she was acquired by a Canadian businessman and towed in 1992 to the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The vessel became part of a small collection of derelict ferries. There she was partially scrapped; portions of her hulk are still visible in the river, and readily apparent on satellite photos, as of 2021. A photo at the dock in July 2021 shows her hulk partially or fully aground, and leaning toward the former

BC Ferries British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...

MV ''Queen of Sidney''. The ship was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971.

References

External links

* Buildings and structures completed in 1922 Ferries of California Ferries of Washington (state) Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Seattle Steamships of the United States Washington State Ferries vessels {{Washington-NRHP-stub