PHOTO 8-1/2 x6-1/2" Sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert at Cascade Locks Oregon 1911 E78

Description

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BAILEY GATZERT: The Bailey Gatzert was built at Ballard, Washington in 1890 by John J. Holland for W.K. Struve and associates. She was launched sidewise and fully ready to steam. Immediately after launching, she was taken to Tacoma and back to Seattle on her first voyage. After her launch in 1890, the Bailey Gatzert was placed on the run from Seattle to Tacoma and Olympia. One of her few rivals for speed on this route was the side-wheeler T.J. Potter. In 1892, the Bailey was bought by the Columbia River & Puget Sound Navigation Company, and transferred to the Columbia river, where she ran on the Portland–Astoria route, and, later, from Portland to The Dalles, on passenger runs and excursions. She was a popular boat during the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, making two runs a day between Portland and Cascade Locks. She could travel from The Dalles to Portland in just over five hours. She was reputedly called the Daily Bastard by those hit by the large wakes she caused, though the tale is not verified. In 1907, the Bailey was rebuilt with a stronger and heavier hull, and engines from the dismantled Telephone, herself once considered a crack steamboat on the Columbia river. The Bailey had also acquired the Telephone's steam five-tone chime whistle. Bailey Gatzert continued to operate on the Columbia River, becoming well known as an excursion boat, under the ownership of The Dalles, Portland, and Astoria Navigation Company. After about 1915, the steamboat trade on the Columbia fell off sharply. In 1917, the Navy Yard Route, an affiliate of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, bought her and returned her to Puget Sound under tow for use on the Seattle–Bremerton route, which was then booming because of war-related ship construction. The Bailey Gatzert began service again in Puget Sound on April 18, 1918. In 1920, Bailey Gatzert was converted to an automobile ferry at Todd Shipyards in Seattle. She was widened ("sponsoned out") and fitted with an elevator to load and unload automobiles, thus becoming the first automobile ferry on the Seattle-Bremerton route. The vessel then carried about 25 cars and ran three daily round-trips and four on weekends. Bailey Gatzert was taken out of service in 1926, and her hull was converted to a floating machine shop in Lake Union. Her nameboard and whistle were preserved however, at a museum in Seattle.