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The steamboat George E. Starr operated in late 19th century 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...

 and also operated out of Victoria, B.C. Geo. E. Starr also served for a time in California and on the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

.

Construction

Geo. E. Starr was built at Seattle in 1878 at the shipyard of J.F.T Mitchell for the Puget Sound Steam Navigation Company’s (the “Starr Line”) international route to Victoria, B.C..Starr was a sidewheel steamer with a single-cylinder walking-beam engine, 148' long, 28' in beam over the hull, and 9 foot depth of hold, and rated at 473 tons.

Early operations

In 1881, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, under Henry Villard

Henry Villard

Henry Villard was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway....

 bought out the Starr Line and all their steamers, including Geo. E. Starr, Isabel, Alida, Otter

Otter (sternwheeler)

Otter was a wooden sternwheel steamboat that was used in Puget Sound and briefly on the Columbia and Stikine rivers from 1874 to 1897.- Columbia River service:...

, and Annie Stewart. The new management ran Geo. E. Starr hard in a rate war with an older sidewheeler on the Sound, Eliza Anderson

Eliza Anderson (sidewheeler)

The PS Eliza Anderson operated from 1858 to 1898 mainly on Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Fraser River but also for short periods in Alaska. She was generally known as the Old Anderson and was considered slow and underpowered even for the time...

. In 1889, the Eliza Anderson nearly sank Geo. E. Starr in a fog-bound collision off Coupeville. In 1892, the Starr was transferred south to California for a year. When she returned, she was under the control of the Northwest Steamship Company, and ran between Seattle, Port Townsend and the mill ports.

Purchase by Joshua Green

George E. Starr was one of the first vessels, along with the sternwheeler Fannie Lake, Annie M. Pence

Annie M. Pence

-Career:Annie M. Pence was built at Lummi Island in 1890. The boat was a sternwheeler intended to carry freight. For most of the career of Annie M. Pence, the vessel was under the command of Capt. Peter Falk, who was also one of their owners. Annie M. Pence was purchased by the La Conner Trading...

, Utopia, and Rapid Transit, purchased by Joshua Green

Joshua Green (seaman and banker)

Joshua Green was an American sternwheeler captain, businessman, and banker. He rose from being a seaman to being the dominant figure of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, then sold out his interests and became a banker...

 and his partners of the La Conner Trading and Transportation Company

La Conner Trading and Transportation Company

The La Conner Trading and Transportation Company was founded in the early 1900s by Joshua Green and others, to engage in the shipping business on Puget Sound.-Formation:...

. Geo. E. Starr was considered sufficiently elegant at that time to allow President Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...

, visiting Seattle, to spend a night in one of her cabins.

Transfer to Alaska

When the Alaska Gold Rush started in 1897, many older vessels were pressed into service in an effort to make money off gold seekers headed for the north country. Geo. E. Starr was no exception. Under Capt. E.E. Caine, the Starr was made ready to, and did in fact depart for Skagway and Dyea on August 3, 1897 with 90 passengers and a cargo of 100 horses.

Return to Puget Sound

Geo. E. Starr survived her service in Alaska, and by 1904 was running in Puget Sound again, under the ownership of the La Conner Trading and Transportation Company. On alternating days, Starr and Utopia left Pier 2, at the foot of Yesler Street in Seattle bound for Whatcom, Fairhaven, and Anacortes, with the Starr on her trips going on to Blaine where travelers could make connection with a steamer bound for Point Roberts. On this run, Starr and Utopia were competing against the Bellingham (ex Willapa, ex General Miles) of the Bellingham Bay Transportation Company.

Reputation as slow boat

Geo. E. Starr served a long time, and towards the end she acquired the reputation as a very slow boat, as shown by the following waterfront doggerel:
Maneuvering the old boat was difficult, as when making turns, she would list over and not right herself, which, as she was a sidewheeler, caused her to spin round and round in circles. To prevent this from happening, her skipper, Capt. Gunder Hansen set up a counterbalance on the deck consisting of an old cart loaded with two or three tons of old anchor chain, rigged to cross the deck with a traveler arrangement of block and tackle. Captain Hansen, a native of Norway, instructed all deck hands: “When I yingle the bell, you move the car,” which resulted in Captain Hansen’s becoming known on the Sound as Yingle Bell Yohnny.

Despite all this, Joshua Green remained fond of Geo. E. Starr, remarking sometimes when she was particularly tardy: “The Starr must have an exceptionally fine load of freight this trip to be this late.” Later, Green wrote of the Starr:

Transfer to Columbia River

Near the end of her career, Geo. E. Starr was transferred to the Columbia River, where she worked as a tow boat.

Final disposition

Geo. E. Starr was abandoned about 1921 in (or was eventually towed to) Lake Union

Lake Union

Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...

, where she rotted and slowly sank.

University of Washington on-line images

• Geo. E. Starr This is a good image showing Geo. E. Starr under way on a foggy day in calm water.
• profile view of Geo. E. Starr at a pier, possibly in Seattle This undated image appears to have been taken at an earlier date in the vessel's career, as the camera required a long enough exposure so the flags on the masts are blurred by their waving in the breeze as the film (or glass plate) was exposed.
• good clear image of Geo. E. Starr docked at Seattle, 1894 In this photo, the city of Seattle is starting to assume its modern appearance, with steep streets built on wooden cribbing stretching back from the waterfront.
• Geo. E. Starr under construction This shows the heavy wooden ribs used to construct the hull of the Geo. E. Starr. This is also a good image of an early shipyard on Puget Sound. A hand-turned windlass
  Windlass
  The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a horizontal cylinder , which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt...
  
  , used to haul vessels out of the water and up onto the ways, can be seen in the foreground of the image.
• Geo. E. Starr and Rosalie at piers in Seattle This photographs shows the Geo. E. Starr at the same pier as in the other 1894 photograph linked above. In the foreground is another well-known Puget Sound steamer, the Rosalie a propeller-driven craft, providing an interesting contrast with the older sidewheeler.