Both the Colman Dock clock tower and the steamer TELEGRAPH were destroyed in a docking accident within one year of this photograph being taken.

PH Coll 794.112

The sternwheeler TELEGRAPH was built in 1903 by the Portland Shipbuilding Co. in Everett. She registered 386 tons with dimensions 153.7x25.7x8 ft. Capt. Scott of the Seattle-Everett navigation Co. placed the TELEGRAPH on the Seattle-Everett route in 1903 to replace the GREYHOUND. In 1910 the Puget Sound Navigation Co. purchased the TELEGRAPH. The vessel remained on the Seattle-Everett route. On April 25, 1912, the Alaska Steamship Co. steel ship ALAMEDA crashed through Colman Dock in Seattle, striking the TELEGRAPH on the other side and almost cutting her in half, sinking the vessel within 15 minutes. Miraculously there was no loss of life. (Source: Newell, Gordon, ed. "The H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest." Seattle: The Superior Company, 1966.)

• Subjects (LCSH): Telegraph (Stern wheeler); Stern wheelers--United States--Washington (State)--Seattle; Colman Dock (Seattle); Piers & wharves--Washington (State)--Seattle; Clock towers--Washington (State)--Seattle