Elfin (steamboat)
Encyclopedia
The steamboat Elfin operated on Lake Washington
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It is bordered by the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and...
and Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
from 1891 to 1900. The vessel served as an important transportation link in the area when roads and railways were poor or non-existent, and there were no bridges across the lake.
Construction and launching
Elfin was built at Pontiac, on the north side of Sand PointSand Point
Sand Point is a peninsula that juts into Lake Washington from north Seattle, Washington, USA. It is mostly occupied by Magnuson Park and gives its name to the Sand Point neighborhood to the west. Formerly a U.S. naval air station, it is mostly public park area, but with a portion occupied by...
, on Lake Washington in 1891. The vessel was 54.5 feet (16.61 m) ( or 60 feet (18.29 m))) long, with a beam of 13.5 feet (4.11 m). Power was provided by a two cylinder compound steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
. The builder was Edward.F. Lee. The first owner was Capt. Frank Curtis, whose prior vessel, the Squak, had been sunk in a storm during Christmas, 1890. The vessel was launched in April 1891. Other steamers on the lake, Kirkland
Kirkland (sidewheeler)
Kirkland was a sidewheel steamboat that ran on Lake Washington from 1888 to 1898.- Career:Kirkland was built in 1888 by T.W. Lake for the Jackson Street Cable Railway Company. Once complete, Kirkland was placed on the Juanita– Kirkland–Houghton–Leschi Park route. Kirkland was considered the...
, and Mary Kraft brought spectators to the launching.
Operations
Elfin first carried passengers on July 4, 1891. Frank Curtis was in charge, with his sons Al and Walter as mate and deckhand. Irving Leake was the engineer. Elfin made six round trips per day, starting at 7:10 a.m from Yarrow Bay (then called Northup’s Landing}, to KirklandKirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
then Houghton, and then west across the lake to the foot of Seattle’s Madison street. Fares were 10 cents each way. In the first two years, the most passengers transported in a single day were 180. Average monthly passengers in the first half of 1892 were 1,070 a month.
In 1896 the vessel' s capacity was expanded, and the pilot house was moved to the boat deck.