Ferries On Lake Washington
Ferries joined the Lake Washington fleet, starting in 1900 with the side-wheel ferry King County, which had the bad luck of stranding in mudbank on her launching with a large number of county officials aboard. Poorly built, she had chronic mechanical problems, and was condemned in 1908. She was replaced in 1908 with the Washington. Later, the Anderson yard at Houghton built the steel-hulled propeller ferry Lincoln (580 tons, 147.3' long, 43' on the beam, with 12.6' depth of hold). Lincoln was put into operation by King County on the Madison Park-Kirkland run. Later, the Anderson yard built another steam propeller ferry, the Issaquah, a double-ender (288 tons, 114' long, 38' on the beam, with 9.0 depth of hold), which included then-new features such as upper levels for vehicles above the main deck and an adjustable loading ramp. She was placed on the route between Leschi Park and Newport, stopping in between at Roanoke, on Mercer Island. At Newport, the steam ferry Issaquah connected with the newly built highway that to Lake Sammamish, Fall City, Issaquah, North Bend, and Snoqualmie Pass.
In 1913, the Port of Seattle built for service on Lake Washington, the large steel-hulled sidewheel ferry Leschi (433 tons, 169' long, 33' foot beam, 8.3' draft). She was fast (14 knots) and in April 1913, she was placed on the run between Leschi Park, Medina and Bellevue. Leschi was the first publicly owned ferry in the region. To keep his customers, Captain Anderson generously offer free service on his boats Fortuna and Atlanta to the launching of the Leschi. Even so, the ferries, subsidized as they were by King County and by the Port of Seattle, quickly made unprofitable private operation on Lake Washington of private passenger boats and ferries.
Medina City Hall was the Medina ferry terminal and contains some history of the times. The dock which jutted southward has been demolished. An anchor of the Leschi was found and salvaged in about 1970.
The former Columbia River motor ferry Tourist II was brought to the lake and run as a tourist boat under the name MV Kirkland.
Read more about this topic: Steamboats Of Lake Washington
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