Bailey Gatzert (sternwheeler)

Bailey Gatzert approaching Cascade Locks, circa 1910
History
Name:	Bailey Gatzert
Route:	Puget Sound (several routes), Columbia River
Builder:	J.J. Holland yard, Ballard, Washington
Launched:	1890
In service:	1890
Out of service:	1925
Fate:	Dismantled
Notes:	Reconstructed and enlarged 1907, later converted to auto ferry
General characteristics
Type:	inland steamship
Tonnage:	276
Length:	177 ft (53.9 m), and after reconstruction, 191 ft (58.2 m)
Beam:	32 ft (9.8 m)
Depth:	8 ft (2 m) depth of hold
Decks:	three (freight, passenger, boat)
Installed power:	twin horizontally mounted steam engines, wood-fuel until 1907; thereafter an oil-burner
Propulsion:	sternwheel
Speed:	18 knots (approx. 20 miles per hour)
Capacity:	Licensed in 1907 to regularly carry 350 passengers and 625 on excursions.

The Bailey Gatzert was a famous sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. This vessel was considered one of the finest of its time. It was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle, who was one of John Leary’s closest friends and business associates.

Bailey Gatzert probably carried more passengers than any other Columbia River steamer. It was considered to be one of the most beautiful river boats, mainly because its upper deck ran all the way out to the bow.

Bailey Gatzert was built for John Leary (1837-1905). The steamer was reported to have cost $100,000 to construct.

According to another report, the Bailey Gatzert was built for the Seattle Steam Navigation & Transportation Company, which had been incorporated in Seattle on May 31, 1890, with a capital stock of $500,000, by John Leary, Jacob Furth, Edward Newfleder, Wm.R. Ballard, and Harry K. Struve (1866-1924).

Bailey Gatzert was built in the shipyard of John J. Holland (1843-1893) at Ballard, Washington. The machinery for the steamer was manufactured by the James Rees Iron and Machine Works, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Holland was an experienced shipbuilder who had previously constructed the prominent steamers Wide West and R.R. Thompson.

The machinery was scheduled to be delivered to the Bailey Gatzert by July 15, 1890, but it did not arrive on time from the east. As of July 20, the Rees firm was reported to be working on the machinery “night and day.” Work on the cabin structure of the steamer almost done by July 20, with the pilot house next to be built.

Work was still ongoing on August 11, 1890, when a carload of machinery, including the sternwheel shaft, cylinders, donkey-pumps, and part of the smokestack arrived over the Northern Pacific Railway. Work was expected to be finished by September 15, 1890. However, the boilers did not arrive at Ballard until October 4, after a five-week delay.