COMET and other ships in Wishkah River — circa 1900 — #L400502_1
| Showing 14 of 831 |
Photograph Copyright Anderson & Middleton Company
United States — Washington (State) — Aberdeen
Wishkah River
Thanks to Sam Talley, who writes: "With all the prime lumber available and the need to move it from the sawmills, Grays Harbor became the ship building capital of the West Coast, especially in Hoquiam and Wishkah Rivers. Some of the builders were the McWinney Yard, Hutchings and Joyce, the Peter Mathews Yard, and Lindstroms. They built schooners with 2, 3, 4, and 5 masts. They sailed the Harbor and up the Chehalis River and to ports along the coast to San Francisco. At times there were so many ships in the rivers waiting to be loaded that navigation was almost impossible. The rain and constant gray, dismall weather kept the sails wet. That caused the continous problem of mildew which kept rotting the sail seams. As steam-powered engines became available, they were brought up the coast and installed in ships."
