Inland Flyer
Inland Flyer backing away from a landing, circa 1904.
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Inland Flyer |
| Owner: | |
| Route: | Puget Sound, Hood Canal |
| Completed: | 1898 |
| Identification: | US registry #100660 |
| Fate: | 1916 |
| Status: | dismantled, machinery reused, hull converted to fish barge. |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | inland steamboat |
| Tonnage: | 151 gross; 103 regist. |
| Length: | 105.5 ft (32.16 m) |
| Beam: | 32.1 ft (9.78 m) |
| Depth: | 4.8 ft (1.46 m) depth of hold |
| Installed power: | triple expansion compound steam engine |
| Propulsion: | propeller |
| Crew: | fifteen (15) |
Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.
Inland Flyer was built in 1898 at Portland, Oregon, and was originally intended to run between Portland, Astoria, and The Dalles. Capt. John Anderson, who later became closely linked with steamboat operations on Lake Washington, discovered Inland Flyer engineless and still under construction at the shipyard of Joseph Supple in Portland, and recommended her purchase to Joshua Green.
Anderson bought the hull, and sold it to Green and his associates who were doing business as La Conner Trading and Transportation Company. Anderson then installed the engines and the upper works himself in Portland, and brought the ship himself down the Columbia River and around the Olympic peninsula.
On May 21, 1904 plans were announced in the press to convert Inland Flyer and Athlon from coal to oil fuel. The decision was reached after officials of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, including its president, Charles Peabody, had taken a test trip on the Northern Commercial Company's sidewheeler Sadie, which was intended for use in Alaska and had been fitted with oil fuel tanks and burned oil rather than wood or coal. Oil was thought to be both cleaner and as cheap or cheaper than coal. The conversion was planned to be complete in thirty days.Inland Flyer thus became the first steam vessel on Puget Sound to use oil fuel, rather than wood or coal, and was the first steamer operating on Puget Sound to use oil fuel.
In 1901, La Conner Trading reached a joint operating agreement with H.B. Kennedy to run their steamers in alliance on the profitable Seattle-Bremerton route, which they called the Port Orchard Route. In 1902 Inland Flyer was on the Seattle – Port Orchard route, running with the Athlon, which was owned by H.B. Kennedy. There was a brief period of competition on this route in 1902 when the Manette, a boat owned by Tacoma interests, with businessman Fred H. Marvin acting as agent, was placed on the route. Manette was soon transferred to the Seattle – Alki run, and the competition ended.
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