Rosalie

The steamboat Rosalie operated from 1893 to 1918 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, also operating out of Victoria, B.C. In 1898, Rosalie went north with many other Puget Sound steamboats to join the Klondike Gold Rush. Construction Rosalie was built at Alameda, California in 1893 originally for the Alameda ferry service. She was long, on the beam, with depth of hold. The vessel was powered by a compound steam engine. Opposing the Southern Pacific Railroad Oakland merchant John L. Davie utilized the Rosalie in 1894 to demonstrate that monopolistic and corrupt practices by the Southern Pacific Railroad's Big Four could be resisted. He employed the vessel as a ferryboat competing against the established monopoly service across San Francisco Bay, but at first was blockaded by Southern Pacific ships. In one incident, as the Southern Pacific's Alameda entered its namesake estuary and ignored her whistle, the Rosalie crashed into the rear end of the Alameda. The railroad relented and the Rosalie continued freely competing with the Southern Pacific ferries. Puget Sound service Rosalie was brought north from California to run from Puget Sound to Alaska. After two Alaska voyages, Rosalie was purchased by Capt. D.B Jackson, then doing business as the Northwestern Steamship Company, to serve on Puget Sound with the older sidewheelers George E. Starr and Idaho. Rosalie was then placed on the Tacoma-Seattle-Victoria route, under Capt. Charles W. "Big" Ames as master and Capt. William Williamson as pilot. When news of the Klondike gold strike hit Seattle, Rosalie was pulled from service (this on July 25, 1897) for some reconstruction to prepare to go north again with the gold seekers. Capt, George T. Roberts (b. 1849) replaced Captain Ames, and George Lent, a partner in the Alaska Steamship Company, took over as engineer. Charles E. Peabody (1857-1926) assumed the all-important financial position of purser.