After coming from Sweden to Seattle in 1888, Anderson rose from polishing deck brass to running Lake Washington transportation, both in competition with and for King County. His 90-foot Atlanta joined a growing fleet of sleek steamers named after Greek deities. It was built to handle the rush of sightseers expected for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington campus. Anderson ran 12 excursion steamers on the big lake throughout the summer-long A-Y-P. It was, however, the 1916 opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal that filled the Atlanta with sightseers enjoying, as the banner on the bow promoted, the "Daily Excursions (through) Sound-Canal-Lakes."

In 1935 Anderson replaced the Atlanta with the bigger Sightseer, a sturdy vessel that was kept in the excursion service until 1962. By then, the Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge (aka the Mercer Island bridge) had cut deeply into the waterborne commuting business.

As revealed by Paul Spitzer, past Boeing historian, this scene's landmark, the old student Shell House, was designed not for racing sculls but for sea planes. The Navy built it while in control of most of the university's waterfront during World War I. The sloping walls and oversize hangar doors are enduring signs of its original purpose, although, as Spitzer points out, it probably never housed an airplane.

Paul Dorpat's two-hour videotape on Seattle's early history, "Seattle Chronicle," is $29.95 from Tartu Publications, P.O. Box 85208, Seattle, WA 98145.