On a Single Stack Steamer: Plying Northwest Waters

This is the scrapbook story of two seagoing families coming to the Pacific Northwest in the Victorian era. They found their heyday during the golden era of the steamship. One family hails from old Norway, the other is American. Their common element was the profession of seagoing men”they were marine engineers on steamships. The story begins in 1890's Port Townsend, and follows through the growth years of the railroad termination to Puget Sound, the Klondike Gold Rush, Asian trade, World War I, tourism, and World War II. This is followed by the peak, decline, and fall of northwest steamboating and the American Merchant Marine in general”a commentary on the legacy of American socialism of the 1930s.