Mosquito Fleet Steamboats

by James Williamson

Original - Sold

Price

$2,200

Dimensions

24.000 x 16.000 inches

Title

Mosquito Fleet Steamboats

Artist

James Williamson

Medium

Painting - Pen & Ink Watercolor

Description

Mosquito Fleet Steamboats pen and ink, watercolor painting by artist James Williamson.

Artist James Williamson, ASMA
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists

Bellingham, Washington Old Town Waterfront
Historic Bellingham waterfront highlighting the era of steam powered watercraft called the Mosquito Fleet. The vessels are navigating Whatcom Creek Waterway. Bellingham City Hall stands above the labyrinth of wooden and brick structures built along the harbor. Note: A steamboat is a relatively small steamship for use on inland waterways.
General History of the Mosquito Fleet: Puget Sound's historic "Mosquito Fleet" consisted of thousands of steamships that steamed from port to port around the sound from the 1850s to the 1930s. Steamers departed and arrived from Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bremerton, Everett, La Conner, Port Townsend, Victoria B. C., Fairhaven, Bellingham and many other ports around the Inland Sea. They were so numerous that people said they resembled a "swarm of mosquitoes." The heyday of the Mosquito Fleet ended in the 1930s when competition with rail and road transportation put the fleet out of business.
From the days of the earliest tribal canoes to the early 1930s, Puget Sound and the Inside Passage (the sheltered channel of water that runs between the British Columbia/Alaska coasts and the islands) constituted the major transportation corridor of the Northwest. Along this corridor, stretching from its southern reaches near Olympia, north to the Alaskan Panhandle, nearly everything people needed moved by water transport.
Eventually, thousands of steam vessels, large and small, were built to move settlers, troops, farm produce and livestock, machinery, timber, the mail, and everything else needed to build and serve the settlements that sprang up along the coastline. Every settlement, no matter how small, had a pier or float. These "whistle stops" were their link to the greater community.
Steam power promised more reliable service -- something that could be scheduled -- than did the sailing ships that were at the mercy of Northwest's fickle winds.
Steam power was not firmly established on the Sound until 1859 with the arrival of the 140-foot side-wheeler Eliza Anderson from Portland, Oregon. "Old Anderson" would be the first of many grand steamers on the Sound, and she proved to be a gold mine for her owners. Her name became a household word during her 40-year career. Many other grand steamers soon followed, including: Alida, North Pacific, Greyhound, Olympian, T. J. Potter, George E. Star and the Bailey Gatzert.
The halcyon years of the Mosquito Fleet lasted from the 1880s to the early 1920s. Over the years, some 2,500 individual steamers were part of the Mosquito Fleet. Each community, no matter how small, depended on the steamers for their link to the greater community.
The fastest and grandest steamers were put on the best and most profitable routes. The Seattle-Tacoma route was served by such famous steamers as: Flyer, H. B. Kennedy, Indianapolis, Iroquois and Tacoma.
Over the years the majority of Mosquito Fleet vessels did not survive competition from the electric interurban lines and later from the rapidly developing highway systems with their automobiles and trucks plus the addition of airports and airlines.
By the late 1920s and early 1930s, regular passenger and freight service among Puget Sound communities had reached the end. The completion of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1935, released a fleet of diesel-electric auto ferries that would soon come to Puget Sound to replace the old Mosquito Fleet vessels. The last scheduled run occurred in 1939. There is only a handful left; the rest were scrapped or left to rot, replaced by the cars and trucks on the Interstate 5 corridor and by Washington States modern ferry system.
The last remaining steam-powered survivor of the Mosquito Fleet is the National Historic Landmark Vessel Virginia V. She was built in 1922 to serve the communities along Colvos Passage on the west side of Vashon Island. She was restored for use as a working museum and excursion vessel and is once again steaming on throughout Puget Sound as a living reminder of Puget Sound's historic Mosquito Fleet.

Old Town Waterfront
Bellingham Washington United States
An original pen and ink watercolor by artist James Williamson recreated as a fine art image and greeting card by Fine Art America.
The city of Bellingham developed from four towns along Bellingham Bay: Bellingham, Fairhaven, Sehome and Whatcom. Since the 1880s the townspeople of Whatcom had talked about the idea of dredging deep-water waterways through the mudflats to the shores of Whatcom. Envisioned as a deep-water channel dug through the shallow tide flats of Bellingham Bay up to the shoreline of the town of Whatcom. Only with the development of such a waterway could medium and larger steamers reach Whatcom's shore. Prior to the waterway steamers docked at the end of mile-long docks stretching out into the bay from Whatcom or docked at deep-water docks located at the towns of Sehome and Fairhaven. As early as 1892, the Federal Government, who retained jurisdiction over navigable waters, approved the dredging and development of three deep-water waterways into the tide flat areas along Bellingham Bay's north shores. The Whatcom Creek, I and J Street, and Squalicum Creek waterways were marked for future dredging, bulkheading and piers.
The Bellingham Bay Improvement Company, owners of the Sehome Dock, opposed the Whatcom Creek Waterway, concerned the new wharf would take away revenues. The ships that would eventually use the new Citizen's Dock on the Whatcom Creek Waterway were using the Sehome Dock. When it became apparent that the existing docks could not possibly accommodate the growing need for wharf space, this influential Whatcom company encouraged dredging, particularly when bottom earth taken from the site was used to fill land on and adjacent to Bellingham Bay Improvement Company tide flats, providing the company with salable land. The BBI Company also took advantage of the dredging company's machinery to lower the bid costs for more work they did for BBI after the waterway dredging.
Whatcom Creek Waterway dredging began in 1904 and work continued for a number of years. The major dredging operation took place starting August 15, 1912. The waterway was completed March 1913.
Whatcom Creek Waterway and Whatcom City Hall were a source of citizen and municipal pride and a major symbol of Whatcom's progress as a port city as the completion of the waterway became a reality, local citizens groups, business and steamship company officials began to look toward the development of improvements on the waterway for Puget Sound steamer facilities. Part of a thriving passenger steamship business, the wharf facilities and vitality of city construction, were supported with energy and spirit.
Whatcom creek Waterway and Whatcom City Hall were created during many years of citizen activism toward the development of port and maritime facilities to the needs of a growing community. Waterway and civic construction were symbols of the rewards of a community working together to achieve commonly perceived goals and of our maritime heritage.
Today maritime commerce remains an important influence for Bellingham's present and future. Whatcom Creek Waterway and the Whatcom Museum of History and Art are reminders of our maritime connection and special symbols of the heritage and future our community has with the sea.
Bellingham City Hall: (formerly New Whatcom City Hall), 1892-93, restored 1965-74. One of the state's finest late nineteenth century institutional structures built in an austere Second Empire Style with overtones of Romanesque Revival. The massive brick structure which builds up from four corner towers to a high central cupola is still our city's major landmark and symbol of authority despite its use since 1940 as the Museum of History and Art. When the structure was damaged in a 1962 fire that destroyed the roof and central tower, a masterful campaign by the Whatcom Museum Society raised funds to restore the building and refurbish the interior. Now a major, multipurpose cultural center, the museum has received national recognition for its community-sponsored restoration.
The Daily Reveille, January 16,1892 described the new structure: a beacon to all vessels coming into our harbor, and a sure index to all comers, tourists, and travelers, of our taste, thrift, enterprise and intelligence.
An account of the City of New Whatcom given in Polk's 1892 Gazetteer of Oregon, Washington and Idaho: The city is admirably situated on Bellingham Bay. It is claimed that a sailing vessel can make New Whatcom wharves from the Ocean by only three courses of the wind. Here is one of the finest harbors on the Sound, capable of accommodating ships of the largest tonnage. These facts coupled with the railroad facilities, developed and in prospect, will make this city a formidable rival of the great cities farther up the sound...the city has street electric railway connecting with Fairhaven, gas works, an admirable volunteer fire department, six prosperous banks, and two daily newspapers: the Reveille (Rep) and Exponent (Dem).
Ferries Across the Bay: Whistles tooted, and boats scurried in every direction. Competing steamers raced toward Bellingham Bay docks to collect waiting passengers and freight. The Mosquito Fleet dashed from their piers heading toward their next destination: La Conner, Port Townsend, Blaine, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and the numerous stops along the way. The steamships brought life and zest to the ports of Puget Sound.
Tall-masted sailing ships and steamers filled Bellingham Bay, waiting their turn to load cargo from Whatcom County, fragrant lumber from the forests, coal from the mines or salmon from the canneries. Steamships, square-riggers and schooners discharged thousands of crewmen who would build new homes and new businesses around Bellingham Bay and throughout Whatcom County. The steamers and sailing vessels delivered workers and families, providing the only reliable means of transportation.
Such was the setting creating this scene of Old Town Waterfront. Steamers, such as Whatcom and Washington, had sleek, even lines running bow to stern with a single pilothouse forward. Whatcom carried freight and passengers. Often it did not run on a regular schedule but restricted trade to an approximate daily sailing from a designated port. Ferries stopped at tiny settlements, communities, farms and businesses on demand.
Old Town Waterfront Docks: The Quackenbush Dock and warehouse were built by Louis B. Quackenbush in 1908. Located at the foot of Central Avenue at Chestnut Street, the dock fronted onto the Whatcom Creek Waterway. The dock warehouse consisted of a one story and basement structure. The Quackenbush Dock first appeared in Bellingham Directories in 1909, and in 1911 advertised general storage. It would be two years until the completion of the waterway would allow major use as a steamer facility.
A second dock was also developed to take advantage of the Whatcom Creek Waterway. The Citizen's Dock was built by the Puget Sound Navigation Company in 1913. This dock extended directly from the foot of the waterway and one side faced the Quackenbush dock. Both docks would be important in the city's waterborne steam passenger and freight services. The Citizen's Dock handling the large major-city route passenger and freight traffic as well as local service. The Quackenbush handled an array of San Juan Island local service steamers as well as all-freight companies. Both docks handled steamers considered part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The Quackenbush dock generally handled smaller boats from the fleet.

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January 10th, 2012

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