Ferryboats have operated on Puget Sound since January 1, 1889, when the City of Seattle began the first scheduled service between Seattle and West Seattle at five cents per passenger. The Washington State Ferry System grew from the "Mosquito Fleet" of small privately owned steamboats that competed for Puget Sound trade before highways and cars, and in the late 1800s large companies took control of many of those vessels. After automobiles became popular, the Blackball Line developed the auto ferry as an extension of the state highway system, and in 1951 the State of Washington bought the company. Ferry workers formed maritime unions in the 1930s, and union strikes helped improve working conditions, schedules, and worker qualifications while showing the region's dependence on ferries. Auto ferries were popularized on the Navy Yard Route between Seattle, Bremerton, and the Olympic Peninsula as early as 1915, and Kalakala, the world's first aerodynamically designed ferry, emerged from Lake Washington Shipyard in 1934 and served passengers until 1966. Today the system is the largest in the U.S., and all ferryboats bear Indian names except those of the Evergreen Class, honoring the first vessels to cross the sound, Indian canoes.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Coupeville, Washington · USA