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Post by NMcKay on Jun 6, 2007 14:50:16 GMT -8
i think that the ministry of environment would get in on the Sidney, especially with the asbestos on board.
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Post by SS Shasta on Jun 17, 2007 16:14:08 GMT -8
This is a very sad ending to a very beautiful vessel. I had the wonderful experience fo traveling in her many times while growing up on Puget Sound. It was just like going back into the 1920's as very little was ever changed on her during her long years of service on Puget Sound. I remember one very special ride on her on Labor Day in September 1965. She had her galley/dining area open and the smell of fresh cooked hamburgers and onions filled her cabin. I stopped to order one as I had a round trip ticket.........it was the best hamburger I ever had!
It was sad when SS San Mateo was retired in 1969 and even sadder to see her rust and rot away. One day in the early 1970's I was able to get on her to see what she was like in places the public doesn't see. I found her last COI issued in May, 1969, among some garbage on her engine room floor. Today I treasure it as a fond memory of a great ship.
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Post by Retrovision on Jun 17, 2007 20:57:30 GMT -8
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Post by ssshasta on May 15, 2008 12:16:07 GMT -8
Greetings, It appears that you are interested in preserving the SS Shasta; We currently have and own her. I am trying to find a person or group to give her to. I have been given 60 days to do so. The alternative is that she will be cut up for scrap. I attempted to post here, but my post got locked, and I got a lecture about the "rules". If ferry preservation is a goal of this forum, I don't understand that tactic. I am not advertising for monetary gain. This vessel is not for sale. We are trying to give her away. Stonewalling this effort will only seal her doom. Any thoughts? Michael Beardsley 503.227.3278
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Post by Low Light Mike on May 15, 2008 12:35:46 GMT -8
Sorry about any offense in the locking of that previous thread. We sometimes operate in grey-areas and the advertising / discussion dilemma is sometimes tough to navigate.
But we do hear your message, and the fate of the Shasta is relevant to many of our members here.
Hopefully if someone here on this forum is interested in taking the ship, they can contact you and help make it happen.
Please update us (in this here thread) on how the deadline is going, and in the event that she is scrapped, please let us know. Also, no matter the outcome, I'm sure that many here would love to see pictures of her, even if it is of her final day and demise.
Cheers! and best wishes in finding a taker for the ship.
ps: are you able to tell us a bit about her present condition and also how/why you ended up owning her in the first place? This is just to satisfy our curiousity and to fill in any gaps in her recent history for us interested people. What were your original plans for her, and what scuttled those plans?
Do you have ownership of any other historical ships?
Thanks for any info that you're willing to share.
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Post by BreannaF on May 15, 2008 13:45:23 GMT -8
From Craigslist:1922 Ferry Boat: SS Shasta, aka: the River Queen - $1 (marina / cow hollow) Reply to: sale-679115529@craigslist.org Date: 2008-05-13, 11:06AM PDT Wanted: A good home for a retired Ferry. The SS Shasta, better known around Portland as the River Queen, is being offered for donation to a capable person or group for preservation or adaptive re-use. Has potential for a House Boat, Floating condos, Museum, Centerpiece of a waterfront development or whatever one can imagine. Requires much work, are you up to the challenge? contact Michael Beardsley 503.227.3278 or michael@beardsleybldgs.com to discuss further. Other pictures from last week:ferriesbc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nwf&action=display&thread=2036&page=9#77705Mr. Beardsley:Is there anything you can tell us about the current condition of the ferry that we might be able to pass on to "interest" a potential interested party? Restoration is a huge undertaking no matter how you look at it -- it would be nice to have an initial idea of just how huge this undertaking might have to be. You are obviously not afraid to redevelop some of the oldest and most historic buildings in Downtown Portland. I would suspect that it would be impossible to, say, find an appropriate mooring or even profitable tenants for such a project (the SS Shasta) yourself. But I would value your opinion on whether it really is a good candidate for restoration for simply historical preservation, or whether the costs would simply be too high for that. Thank you! *EDIT* to fix broken link.
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Post by SS Shasta on May 17, 2008 11:25:22 GMT -8
I certainly wish the very best for the future of SS Shasta. It's too bad that there is so little interest in preserving the marine heritage of the Pacific Northwest. The SS Shasta along with her sister SS San Mateo were certainly part of that rich heritage. I hope that the beautiful SS Shasta has a much better future than the San Mateo. She seemed to work so well as the River Queen restaurant in Portland. It was a great place to dine and down a pint or two. My very best wishes in finding SS Shasta a new home!!
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Post by Allison on May 28, 2008 14:57:01 GMT -8
I was wondering recently what had happned to the ship as I drive highway30 often and see her. I wish I had the time to fix her up, I love working with my hands!! It would be so sad to see her scrapped when there is so much potential there. Like someone said in another post...what is her condition??
I would love to get a chance to look around. I hope you find someone that can take her it is such a wonderful opportunity.
Thanks and good luck, Allison(aliepaige@msn.com)
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Post by Shasta Owner on Jun 3, 2008 13:08:00 GMT -8
Greetings all; The Shasta currently sits on the Columbia between Deer Island and Goble, Oregon; Just off of hwy. 30 I would be happy to tour her with anyone who contacts me with an interest. The ship is in a state of disrepair, that while not beyond hope, would still require many man-hours of elbow grease and no small amount of dollars to bring her around to her former glory. She does float; we had a hull survey done in 1998 which was favorable, and at that time we made the recommended repairs. We do have to pump her out periodically due to rain water getting in through numerous smashed windows. She has been plagued by tweekers and pirates in recent years who have done her no favors, and 10 years sitting in the elements have not either. Our plan originally was to convert her to floating condos. we went to the legislature, which subsequently led to a bill passed specifically to allow that; the first of its kind. However, the condo market in Portland hasd become bloated and over built, while the market flattened out. The plan died. Next we tried to secure the San Mateo together with the Shasta into a proposal for a floating Casino in a partnership with a Native American group in The Gorge. That would have guaranteed the preservation of both ships for years to come, with plenty of dollars for their continued upkeep, but there was opposition to a casino there regardless of it's form and while that debate continues, we eventually withdrew from it. She has sat since with no further plans on our part. Now we must remove her from our inventory and concentrate on the brick and mortar which is our forte. We bought her in '98 from the Roylance family who had shuttered the River Queen restaurant two years before, due to Bill Roylance's ill health and the restaurant itself was long overdue for a makeover and was suffering from deferred maintenance. Bill eventually died and his widow wanted no more of it, it had been their life for 30+ years and she wanted to move on. When she was converted into a restaurant in 1962, all of the ferry seating and snack bar went away. a kitchen, dance floor and bar took their place. On the car deck, the entire space was converted into a dining/ bar/ banquet space. Everything running from the engine to the stack was cut out to capture that space for use. The engine remains, but is of no use at this point. On the upside, I have received a decent response to some Craigslist postings I did, and several groups have come to tour her with a variety of plans in mind: restoration for a floating museum, conversion into a floating home, a B&B and a floating woman's shelter to name a few. Interest has come from San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Personally, I think keeping her in the Portland area makes the most sense, but I do have a bias there... Taking her upon the ocean to SF or Seattle would be a feat and one would probably want to place her on a barge for such a trip. Tug boats are not secured cheaply either. All that said, I believe that she deserves better than the scrapper's torch and I know that someone with passion and effort could do something great with her. She is on the historic register, and that mostly governs her exterior appearance, one could do whatever they wanted to for the interior, and there is plenty of room to do it. She really will go to the first person who puts up their hand and says " I'll Take her". If anyone has even a passing interest in her and would like a tour, contact me @ 503.227.3278 and I can set up a tour time. Thanks for your interest, Michael Beardsley michael@beardsleybldgs.com
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Post by BreannaF on Apr 14, 2009 18:24:13 GMT -8
I found a photo on a local blog with an historic picture of the River Queen Restaurant / SS Shasta. Courtesy of the blog StumpTown Blogger, with a link to a larger version of the photo on the site: This photo shows the boat moored at what was at the time a refueling dock near Sellwood Park on the Willamette River near the southern city limits of Portland. (I used to live in a house just beyond the trees at the top of the photo.) I seem to recall that the location of the restaurant was well upstream along the river just North of Downtown Portland. This would have been well before my time here (on Earth), but my first reaction is that it was at this place very temporarily. But I could be wrong. In any case, it is a nice picture of the boat -- thought I would share what I found.
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Post by SS Shasta on Apr 15, 2009 16:24:25 GMT -8
I wonder why SS Shasta failed as a restaurant in downtown Portland? I've had dinner on her a few times years ago, and the food was good and the place attracted quite a crowd. It certainly was a unique place to dine and I was rather surprised that it failed. I do remember that it was a bit difficult to find, but I am certainly no expert in driving downtown Portland.
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Post by whidbeyislandguy on Apr 15, 2009 16:43:53 GMT -8
I wonder why SS Shasta failed as a restaurant in downtown Portland? I've had dinner on her a few times years ago, and the food was good and the place attracted quite a crowd. It certainly was a unique place to dine and I was rather surprised that it failed. I do remember that it was a bit difficult to find, but I am certainly no expert in driving downtown Portland. there are a few reasons. One of them is simply because of what the area around her. It used to be NO one in their right mind would be down at the Train station and such.. That has all since changed but it didn't help her. There was also like many others. Tax problems with the owner.
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Post by whidbeyislandguy on Oct 27, 2009 8:12:19 GMT -8
And another one bites the dust.......
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Post by SS San Mateo on Oct 27, 2009 9:12:35 GMT -8
Looks like there is/was some attempt to restore her. The following was posted on 09/22/2008 in the West Coast Ferryboats group over at Yahoo:
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Post by whidbeyislandguy on Oct 30, 2009 18:34:28 GMT -8
Sadly I don't think I will hold my breath, she doesn't look long for the floating world.. I am guessing either sink where she is or taken away and sunk/rot like her sister.
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Post by BreannaF on Nov 1, 2009 19:02:15 GMT -8
In a posting today in a local-to-Portland blog, Michael Beardsley sends a letter on the latest news on the SS Shasta/River Queen. He's still looking for someone to take it off his hands. What a surprise. You can click on the above link to get to the post. One other thing: Take a good look at the last two of the three pictures in the blog entry. They sure look VERY much like some that were taken by a forum member and posted here recently.....
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Post by EGfleet on Nov 1, 2009 20:03:43 GMT -8
In a posting today in a local-to-Portland blog, Michael Beardsley sends a letter on the latest news on the SS Shasta/River Queen. He's still looking for someone to take it off his hands. What a surprise. You can click on the above link to get to the post. One other thing: Take a good look at the last two of the three pictures in the blog entry. They sure look VERY much like some that were taken by a forum member and posted here recently..... Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. And since I only posted them here, there's only one place he could have gotten them.
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Post by SS San Mateo on Nov 1, 2009 21:54:34 GMT -8
In a posting today in a local-to-Portland blog, Michael Beardsley sends a letter on the latest news on the SS Shasta/River Queen. He's still looking for someone to take it off his hands. What a surprise. You can click on the above link to get to the post. One other thing: Take a good look at the last two of the three pictures in the blog entry. They sure look VERY much like some that were taken by a forum member and posted here recently..... Not only that, but the blog text appears to be an exact copy-and-paste of reply #5 of this thread. I did a Google search for the group (FOGG) that was supposedly awarded the vessel, but came up empty.
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Post by whidbeyislandguy on Nov 2, 2009 10:57:37 GMT -8
In a posting today in a local-to-Portland blog, Michael Beardsley sends a letter on the latest news on the SS Shasta/River Queen. He's still looking for someone to take it off his hands. What a surprise. You can click on the above link to get to the post. One other thing: Take a good look at the last two of the three pictures in the blog entry. They sure look VERY much like some that were taken by a forum member and posted here recently..... Wow, yes indeed those are the Pictures you took of her....
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Post by EGfleet on Nov 2, 2009 15:18:00 GMT -8
Interesting thing about the photos that I didn't realize until Barnacle pointed it out...the paint flaking off the smokestack is revealing the old WSF green. Amazing it is still there after 50 years.
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Post by EGfleet on Apr 12, 2010 12:27:43 GMT -8
Huh. Got another score the other day... good thing I've been lazy about getting that super-8 reel of the Pender Queen onto a DVD... I just managed to secure some footage shot at the Kingston ferry dock in August or early September 1969, with a brief shot of the Nisqually and a good thirty seconds of the San Mateo loading, departing, and underway (and the husband of the couple casually strolling toward the camera, but I was looking over his shoulder). So I have film of the last days of the San Mateo in the archives! And here it is...
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Post by fargowolf on Apr 12, 2010 18:23:26 GMT -8
There was a write up on the engineer and his buying the ferry in CN's magazine "CN West" I'll have to try and find the issue, scan it and post it. For several years, I know it was way up the Fraser, somewhere near where the Harrison River enters the Fraser I THINK (keeping in mind that the last time I saw it, was back in 2006 when I was on my way to Alberta).
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Post by Barnacle on Apr 13, 2010 9:26:05 GMT -8
It's still there, just west of Mission. The only way it'll ever leave there is in pieces.
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Post by lmtengs on Apr 14, 2010 20:33:11 GMT -8
She's really decaying That's from last july. I'll be heading down there again to get some pics sometime in the next month or two.
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Post by lmtengs on Jun 15, 2010 20:28:28 GMT -8
As promised, I got some more, more detailed photos of the San Mateo's condition. She's NOT faring well, and I'd say past any hopes of potential restoration. First, I reveal my shot of her full body: Second, the partial collapse of the deck just starboard of her bridge: And the other collapse, this one on the upper deck about midships. Where she isn't collapsing, it looks like she will be pretty soon: A forward view of her: Her wheelhouse. There's no more glass in her windows: Her cardeck. You can still see the paint that says 'number one end'. Underneath that, I can see the word 'restaurant'. What's that from? You can still see some of her green paint. Sadly, there are trees growing out of her too now She's decaying pretty quick, and if those trees take root much more, they're just gonna weaken the steel (or wood, not sure which) to a point where she'll just crack under all the pressure.
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