The West Seattle Land and Improvement Company was a real estate development concern that conducted business in West Seattle starting in 1888. Through a subsidiary, the Oregon and Washington Ferry and Navigation Company, the company also owned and operated two ferries that operated between the company's developments in West Seattle and Seattle itself, which was then a separate city which was difficult to reach over land routes of the time.

Formation

The West Seattle Land & Improvement Company was incorporated July 11, 1888, and was reported to have been capitalized at $1,500,000. Most of the capital came from San Francisco. Thomas Ewing was the president and Morris S. Bates was secretary and general manager. Several subsidiaries or affiliated companies were later organized, all with Ewing as president and Bates as secretary. These included West Seattle Cable Railway Co, incorporated February 26, 1890, capitalized at $500,000, and West Seattle Electric Light & Water Co. incorporated February 25, 1890, and capitalized at $100,000. In 1890, the company's main office was in West Seattle, at the corner of Railroad and Grand streets. The company had a branch office in Seattle, at the foot of Marion Street. The company's ferry ticket agent was Arthur I. Gould.Polk, R.L. & Co., ''Seattle city directory'' (1890)
(accessed 5-18-11), at pages 92, 94, 104, 726, and 823.

Course of business

The company purchased and replatted much of what later became the

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

district. To attract potential buyers, the company organized a ferry service, constructing a terminal and purchasing a ferry, the ''City of Seattle'' In September 1890, the company also built a two-mile long cable railway, leading from the ferry dock to the top of the high ground where the company's real estate development was underway. The company had $300,000 worth of real estate sales in 1890, but was hit hard by the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

. The cable line closed in 1897.Tate, Cassandra, “Seattle Neighborhoods: West Seattle -- Thumbnail History”, HistoryLink.org Essay 3428, July 08, 2001.
(accessed 05-18-11) The company's ferry operation continued without the cableway. In 1900 the company held a mail contract for the ferry route, which paid $250 per year.Congressional report listing mail contracts by steamboat routes in Puget Sound, by route number and companies on route. (1900), at page 400
(accessed 05-18-11).

Rate war

In 1903, the company's ferry division was involved in a rate war on the ferry route against the steamer ''Lady of the Lake''Newell, ed., ''McCurdy Marine History'', at 146. There were two collisions between ''City of Seattle'' and ''Lady of the Lake'' during the rate war. The owners of ''Lady of the Lake'' reduced their fares to five cents, which prompted the ferry division to allow 40 rides for one dollar. The rate war ended on June 18, 1903, when ''Lady of the Lake'' was hauled out of the water in a shipyard in West Seattle. Overnight a fire broke out.U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service, ''1903 Annual Report'', at 23. The origin of the fire was reported to be "not ascertained", with ''Lady of the Lake'' suffering approximately $3000 in damage. The rate war and the circumstances of the fire caused a rumor that arson was the cause, but no charges were ever brought.

Litigation

The company was involved in a number of lawsuits over the years. These included among others ''West Seattle Land & Improv. Co. v. Herron'', 48 Pac. Rep. 341 (Wash. 1897); ''West Seattle Land & Improv. Co. v. Novelty Mill Co.'', 72 Pac. Rep. 69 (Wash. 1903), and ''Town of West Seattle v. West Seattle Land and Improvement Co.'', 80 Pac. 549.

Peak ferry year and decline

In 1907 ''City of Seattle'' was still on the same route, but demand had increased so much that a new and larger vessel was commissioned to handle the ferry traffic. This was the '' West Seattle'', which was built at Tacoma and entered regular service on June 27, 1907 on the Seattle – West Seattle route. The company had its own ferry terminal in Seattle. With the new ferry on the route, ''City of Seattle'' was then shifted to run to the Luna amusement park then located at

Duwamish Head Duwamish Head is the northernmost point in West Seattle, Washington, jutting into Elliott Bay. The Duwamish called it "Low Point" or "Base of the Point" (Lushootseed: sgWudaqs). A large boulder covered with petroglyphs once lay on the beach. The ...

. 1907 was the peak year for ferry transport on the Seattle-West Seattle run, with 103,000 passengers carried in July alone. After that, rising competition from the expanding network of street car lines over time proved too much for the West Seattle ferries, and ''City of Seattle'' was taken off the route in 1911.Kline and Bayless, ''Ferryboats'', at pages 5-8, 78, 94, 114, 146, and 345. ''West Seattle'' was kept on the run, and in June 1913, the money-losing ferry was sold to the

Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is a government agency overseeing the seaport and airport of Seattle, Washington, United States. With a portfolio of properties ranging from parks and waterfront real estate, to one of the largest airports and container t ...

Property ownership

In 1910, almost the entire waterfront of West Seattle, which by then had become part of the municipality of Seattle, was owned by the West Seattle Land & Improvement Co., and occupied by tenants on short-term leases.U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Corporations, ''Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water, Vol III, Water Terminals'' (1910)
(accessed 05-18-11), at pages 240-241.

Notes

References

* Kline, Mary S., and Bayless, G.A., ''Ferryboats -- A Legend on Puget Sound'', Bayless Books, Seattle, WA 1983 * Newell, Gordon, R., ed. ''H.W. McCurdy Maritime History of the Pacific Northwest'', Superior Publishing 1966.
Polk, R.L. & Co., ''Seattle city directory'' (1890)
(accessed 5-18-11)
Southwest Seattle Historical Society, Log House Museum, ''West Seattle'', Arcadia (2010)
(accessed 05-18-11). Page 14 shows a photograph of a car of the West Seattle Cable Railway, and page 28 shows the company's office, the ferry dock, and the West Seattle shoreline along Elliott Bay.
Tate, Cassandra, “Seattle Neighborhoods: West Seattle -- Thumbnail History”, HistoryLink.org Essay 3428, July 08, 2001.
(accessed 05-18-11).
U.S. Postmaster General, Report to Congress, listing mail contracts by steamboat routes in Puget Sound, by route number and companies on route. (1900), at page 400
(accessed 05-18-11).
United States Steamboat Inspection Service, Annual report of the Supervising Inspector General, 1903

U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Corporations, ''Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water, Vol III, Water Terminals'' (1910)
(gives list of piers used by Puget Sound shipping companies on page 240).
Wright, E.W., ''Lewis & Dryden's Marine history of the Pacific Northwest'', Lewis & Dryden Printing Co., Portland, OR (1895)

External links

1911 photograph showing company's ferries and ferry terminal on West Seattle Waterfront.
(University of Washington digital image, Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection Image Number, 1983.10.6599.) {{Mosquito Fleet Defunct shipping companies based in Washington (state) Ferry companies based in Washington (state) Railway inclines in the United States History of Seattle 1888 establishments in Washington Territory