From the Archives–The Rosario

I’ve always been fond of this little ferry.
She started life in 1923 as the steam powered ferry Whidby for the Whidby Island Transit company, then a subsidiary of PSN, and soon to be totally absorbed by the company, for routes on and around Whidbey Island. She worked in this capacity for nearly a decade before Black Ball pulled her out of service with a very definite idea for upgrading the little vessel in 1931 for their international vessel between Anacortes and Sidney, B.C.

The interior including a forward observation complete with a radio–an expensive item back in 1931–a men’s smoking room, a ladies lounge, and a full-service dining room. The upper deck was open for passengers to walk while the ferry’s new diesel engines chugged along at a slow, but steady, 10 knots though the scenic San Juans, with stops at all the islands.

The ferry appeared in all the brochures for the San Juans, and was given a full page write-up in Railway and Marine News.

Eventually though, her size, not even 200 feet in length, caught up with her. The demand on the Sidney run was such that Black Ball had to replace her with a larger vessel–the decidedly more austere, but much larger for the time, M/V Vashon.

The Vashon would later be replaced by the Chippewa and then the Klickitat, with the Evergreen State eventually settling into the role as the primary Sidney run vessel for decades. She’d be joined briefly by the Walla Walla for that ferry’s first season, but the Wally was sent down to the Seattle-Winslow run after only one summer. The Kaleetan picked up the mantle as the alternate Sidney ferry, eventually displaced by the infamous Elwha. The Chelan was added in 2005, and no remains the only Sidney ferry.

As for the Rosario, she ended her days for Black Ball on the Point White-Bremerton run until that was discontinued. She was then moved over to the Suquamish-Indianola-Seattle route, and was working there when the state took over ferry operations in 1951.

The Rosario, while officially a Washington State Ferry, was never painted in WSF livery–she didn’t last long enough. Mere months after the State took over operations, the bridge connection Bainbridge Island to the mainland opened, and the run between Suquamish, Indianola and Seattle was discontinued.

For decades, she remained at the spot above, beached at 3862 Railroad Avenue in Everett up until the 1980’s. By all reports, her spectacular wooden paneling and interiors remained basically intact right up until the end, when she plowed under to make way for a parking lot and warehouse.

All that remains of the Rosario are photos and memories of a more graceful time of travel, when even a ferryboat could have a touch elegance and class.