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The Klahanie

Original Name: Golde age.  Official Number: 227249  Radio Call Numbers: WG7101 Built: Alameda, CA 1928.  Length: 240' 6"  Beam: 59' 6"  Draft: 11'Auto Deck Clearance: 12 6"'  Speed: 10 knots   Horsepower: 1,200   Propulsion: Diesel Electric (DC) Autos: 50 Passengers: 601Gross Tonnage: 779 Meaning of name: Chinkook jargon: "Great out of doors." Drawing courtesy of Johan Iverse

With Mt. Baker looming behind, the Klahanie does extra service late in her career on the Clinton-Mukilteo route.  Courtesy of Brandon Moser.

Arriving in the spring of 1938 was the Golden Age, which Black Ball would name Klahanie.  She went to work on the Edmonds-Port Townsend route on 21 June 1938 until the  first Elwha replaced her.  Then the  Klahanie moved to the Winslow, Bainbridge Island route where she remained until 1950.      State ownership changed her livery and her profile.   In an effort to distinguish her from the Chetzemoka, her new owners at WSF covered her large rectangular windows on the car deck with ply wood, each with a round "porthole" in the center.  This actually made the Klahanie look more like her cousins, the Steel Electric Class, which also had their large windows replaced by portholes during the 1950's.       From 1950 until 1958 the Klahanie worked the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Harper route.  She was the last ferry to make a landing at Harper in September of 1958, after which time ferry traffic began using the new dock at Southworth.  (Today at Harper, all that remains of the dock is one lone dolphin, crumbling into the Sound.)       Her career began to slow after 1958.  Starting in 1959 worked the Kingston route, with daily service  in the summer but only weekends in the fall, winter and spring months.        After eight years as a Kingston  ferry, the state moved her to  Fauntleroy in 1968 where she operated as the third boat, working five days a week.      She was finally retired and taken out of service in 1972.  She spent a few years at Eagle Harbor, then was purchased in 1975 to be a floating shopping center and restuarant in California, but for some reason the Klahanie never went south.  After spending time in Everett , the ferry was moved to  Tacoma.  There were  questions about who actually owned the vessel at the time, and she was seized by US marshals.  She was sold again, this time  ending  the ferry landed in the mud along the banks of the Duwamish River.      The Klahanie's last years are, sadly, probably the ones she is most remembered for.  Thousands of people saw her rotting remains slowly decaying on the shore of the Duwamish River behind Boeing Field.   Her passenger cabin began to fall in and fall apart, exposing it to the elements and further decayu.      After a humilating decade of decline, the ferry either caught or was set on fire in late July of 1990.  News reports of the incident at the time did not even include her name--she was already that forgotten.      The ferry burned to the hull, and remained a crumbling wreck along the Duwamish.  When the first Superfund monies arrived to clean up the river, the carcass of the  Klahanie was finally broken up in late 1998.  Today the spot is marked with a "recovery" estuary for ongoing restoration of the much-abused Duwamish

The Klahanie as she looked as the Golden Age.  Courtesy of NMMSF.

One of the reasons the Klahanie was so expensive to maintain is show in this photo: dryrot.  Here she is undergoing annual maintenance in the late 1960's.  Courtesy of Tom Sanislo.

Coca Cola was the drink served in the Klahanie's galley in the 1950's.  Williamson collection, courtesy of MOAHI.  Color by Nevermore Images.

The charred hull of the Klahanie in the mid 1990's.  WSDE photo.

The Klahanie in 1982, shortly before being moved to the Duwamish.  Author's collection.

Removal of the hulk of the Klahanie in 1998. WSDE photo.

to the KEHLOKEN RETIRED FERRIES HOME

The Klahanie in 1990, just weeks before the fire.  The full scale decay of the vessel is evident.  Photo courtesy of Tom Sanislo.

The burned out remains of the Klahanie. The smokestack would later collapse.  Photo courtesy of Brandon Moser.