Steamboats of Lake Washington - Rise of Anderson Steamboat Company

Rise of Anderson Steamboat Company

Steamboat operations on Lake Washington eventually became almost the sole province of one firm, Anderson Steamboat Company, founded by John L. Anderson, an immigrant from Sweden. His brother, Adolph Anderson, was also a steamboat master on the lake. The company’s headquarters was at Leschi Park, and the company had a shipyard across the lake at Houghton.

Anderson had worked his way up from deckhand to skipper of the C.C. Calkins, and in 1895, he was able to buy his one steamboat, the Winnifred, which burned the next year, 1896, at Leschi Park. Anderson then bought for $1,600, the aging propeller steamer Quickstep, which had been built at Astoria in 1877. Quickstep also burned in 1896, and Captain Anderson, undaunted, salvaged her engines to place in a new boat he would build at his own yard, Lady of the Lake.

Read more about this topic:  Steamboats Of Lake Washington

Famous quotes containing the words rise, anderson, steamboat and/or company:

    It is an hypothesis that the sun will rise tomorrow: and this means that we do not know whether it will rise.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

    I am willing, for a money consideration, to test this physical strength, this nervous force, and muscular power with which I’ve been gifted, to show that they will bear a certain strain. If I break down, if my brain gives way under want of sleep, my heart ceases to respond to the calls made on my circulatory system, or the surcharged veins of my extremities burst—if, in short, I fall helpless, or it may be, dead on the track, then I lose my money.
    —Ada Anderson (1860–?)

    We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” He said, “I ‘xpect we take in some water there, river so high,—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water there, but short; swamp steamboat once. Don’t paddle till I tell you, then you paddle right along.” It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted “paddle,” and we shot through without taking in a drop.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend you to a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success.
    Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)