KINGSTON — It wasn’t until 1923 that east-bound ferry service first came to Kingston, and it was nothing like the vessels of today. But the complaints of waiting in long lines for passage rang as true 86 years ago as they do today.
“Riders wrote post cards complaining of the long lines,” reported Harold F. Osborne in the book “Little City by the Sea.”
May 16, 1923 was a foggy morning in Kingston and it was the also the first sailing of car/passenger ferry service between Edmonds and Kingston.
“Up until that time the Mosquito Fleet came by, but you had to go out on a row boat to meet the boat as it went by,” said Kingston historian Jack Minert. “It was a way of getting around the Sound, per se, not used so much for the tourists as it was for basic access to the other side. Kingston had truck farmers who sent their produce over to Seattle.”
Minert added until 1917 there weren’t even roads between the communities of the North End and all travel to Hansville or Eglon was done by boat.
According to letters and information collected by the Kingston Historical Society and posted at the Greater Kingston Area Chamber of Commerce, the Joyce Brothers operated Kingston’s first ferry service: The 12-car “City of Edmonds.” Fares were 25 cents one-way for car and passenger. Crossing usually took 45 minutes, and 10 round-trips were sailed each day. Drivers disembarked on a cedar log-float and then drove up to the dock.
By 1925 the Joyce Brothers operated two ferries from Kingston to Edmonds, the second being the “City of Kingston,” and Harry Crosby owned and operated a smaller boat to Ballard.
On that May day in 1923, the city of Edmonds called it a holiday and all businesses were closed. A similar celebration took place in Kingston. Edmonds residents and the Edmonds Park Band packed the ferry on its virgin voyage westward and were greeted by Kingstonites. The whole throng then ambled down to the beach for a picnic. Warren Jefferson Collins, one of Kingston’s first port commissioners, barbecued an entire steer for the celebration.
It wasn’t until years later that commuters started flocking to the ferries.
“When I sold papers in 1944 or ’45 there were five commuters,” Minert recalled.
The Joyce Brothers sold out in 1927 and Washington State Ferries took over service in 1951. The “City of Kingston” ferry was sold and went on to carry passengers across the Hood Canal from Port Gamble to Shine. As history seems to repeat itself, a similar ferry system is in place during the six-week Hood Canal Bridge Closure.
And sometimes history brings to light faulty reasoning and yet still some veins of thought never change, as is evidenced by Allan Yost’s — great uncle of Kingston Lumber owner Tom Wagoner — written recollection of the first ferry crossing. “…I remember my mother commenting she never wanted to ride on that little bit of boat…It was exciting but there was not too much favorable comment made. Many thought there was no business for a run to Kingston. Then there was the long walk back from the dock to the house. And that is the way it was.”
