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Monticello 2 (steamboat)
Encyclopedia
The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet
Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet
The Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock...
. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This 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...
steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello (1), which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.
Construction
Monticello was built in 1906 by the Crawford and ReidCrawford and Reid (shipbuilders)
The firm of Crawford and Reid was a ship building company that had a shipyard at Tacoma Washington in the first half of the 1900s. Vessels constructed by the yard included the passenger steamships Daring, Dix, Monticello 2, the sternwheeler S.G. Simpson, and the steam tugs Echo and USS Locust...
shipyard at Tacoma for the Moe Brothers to run her with their other boat, Advance, in opposition to the Kitsap County Transportation Company
Kitsap County Transportation Company
The Kitsap County Transportation Company was an important steamboat and ferry company that operated on Puget Sound. The company was originally founded in 1898 as the Hansen Transportation Company.-Hansen Transportation:...
’s boats on the Seattle-Poulsbo route. Monticello was 125' long, 21 on the beam, drew 6.3 feet (1.9 m) and was rated at 196 tons.
Operations
Late in the year 1906, Monticello under the command of Capt. Chris Moe, collided with her chief rival, Kitsap, under Captain Alf Hostmark. Following an investigation, both masters were censured by marine inspectors Whitney and Turner (who, apparently coincidentally, had been present in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
earlier that year at the launching of Kitsap.) Monticello seems to have been operated out of Seattle from the Galbraith Dock (Pier 3), the so-called “Mosquito Fleet” dock.
Sale to Port Blakely Mill Co.
In January 1907, Moe Bros. sold both Monticello and Advance to the Port Blakeley Mill Co., which used them to replace the Sarah M. Renton. In 1908, the company put Monticello on the popular Navy Yard (Seattle-Bremerton)route, running in opposition to the Puget Sound Navigation CompanyPuget Sound Navigation Company
The Puget Sound Navigation Company was founded by Joshua Green in 1913. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia...
’s steamers Athlon
Athlon (steamboat)
-Construction:Athlon was built in Portland, Oregon by the J.H. Johnston yard. Her first owners were a consortium of Jacob Kamm , Shaver Transportation Company and the Kellogg Transportation Company. The consortium built her at a cost of $4,950...
, Tourist, and Inland Flyer
Inland Flyer
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...
. Gasoline-engined vessels were mounting a serious challenge to steam power at about this time, and gasoline power seemed to be vindicated when in 1912 Monticello broke down and had to be towed into Seattle by the gasoline tug Klickitat.
Operation with D Fleet
One source reports that Monticello was operated by Capt. Matthew McDowellMatthew McDowell (steamboat captain)
Matthew McDowell was a steamboat owner and builder associated with the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet.-Background:McDowell was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and left home at age 15 to work as a coal passer for steamers of the Anchor Line. He had three sons and one daughter, all of whom were associated...
as part of his D Fleet of steamers, but provides no further information.
Sale to Kitsap County Transportation Co.
In 1922, Port Blakeley Mill sold Monticello to their former competitor Kitsap County Transportation CompanyKitsap County Transportation Company
The Kitsap County Transportation Company was an important steamboat and ferry company that operated on Puget Sound. The company was originally founded in 1898 as the Hansen Transportation Company.-Hansen Transportation:...
with the objective of forming a jointly-operated fast passenger ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, where the mill company’s owners, D.E. Skinner and John W. Eddy, owned 1600 acres (6.5 km²) which they were hoping to develop. Monticello was replaced on the Seattle-Port Blakeley route in 1923 with the automobile ferry Liberty.
Later career and union charter
In 1930, Puget Sound Freight Lines obtained an option on Monticello to operate her on the Bellingham-San Juan IslandsSan Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...
-Seattle route with the steamer Mohawk, but the business wasn’t sufficient to sustain two large passenger vessels, so the diesel vessel Suquamish
Suquamish (motor vessel)
Suquamish, built in 1914, was the first diesel-engined passenger vessel in the United States. Much later Suquamish was converted to a commercial fishing vessel and was registered as a Canadian vessel under the name Terry.-Nomenclature:...
was assigned to run from the San Juans to Bellingham where travelers bound for Seattle could board the Mohawk for Seattle.
For eleven months in 1932 to 1933, Monticello was chartered by maritime unions during a long wage dispute so that union men could ride on a union boat from Seattle to their jobs at the Navy Yard and still boycott the Puget Sound Navigation Company
Puget Sound Navigation Company
The Puget Sound Navigation Company was founded by Joshua Green in 1913. It operated a fleet of steamboats and ferries on Puget Sound in Washington and the Georgia Strait in British Columbia...
, then the biggest private inland shipping concern on the Sound. Virginia V
Virginia V
The steamship Virginia V is the last operational example of a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet steamer...
also was chartered by the unions for a similar role. By this time, Monticello’s steam power plant was in a state of deterioration. Her boiler tubes were leaking, and the engineering crew hit on the idea of putting horse manure in the feedwater to stop the leaks. This actually worked, although one of her all-union crew had to carry the burden of collecting horse manure along the waterfront and bringing it back to the boat.