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From Dock To Rocks

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LAWTON GOWEY THEN: Probably 96 years separate these two off-shore records of Pier 57 at the foot of University Street. In this view, the dark dock is mostly hidden behind the sleek side-wheeler Yosemite. PAUL DORPAT NOW: Here, the pier shows the remodeled lines it received in a mid-1970s makeover that created today's Waterfront Park.

WE WILL CONSIDER two contrasting profiles here. One is white — all 282 feet 3 inches of the Yosemite — the other, dark — the west end of Pier 57. Both are over water but only the former is afloat, and not for long.

The crowded skyline here is filled with clues, so the older view is relatively easy to date. On the far left horizon, the White Building at Fourth Avenue and Union Street is completed (in 1908), and to the right of it the structural steel for its adjoining neighbor, the Henry Building, is about to receive its terra-cotta skin. This is either late 1908 or 1909. Also in 1909 the 46-year-old Yosemite, while on excursion with about 1,000 passengers, broke her back on rocks near shore in the Port Orchard Narrows. This may be her last formal profile.

Built for the Sacramento River in 1863, the ship was sent north 20 years later. It was long rumored that the side-wheeler was purposely driven to the rocky shore for the insurance money. No one was hurt, and apparently the owner collected.

As for Pier 57, it was long associated with the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, and was often referred to as the "Milwaukee Dock," in part because that name still has such a euphonious ring to it. Of course, it had other tenants.

In 1902 (seven years before the railroad arrived in Seattle) the ends of the pier were blazoned "The Agen Dock." It was named for John Agen, who founded the Alaska Butter and Cream Co. in time to feed at least some of Alaska when gold was discovered, first in the Yukon in 1897 and soon after on the beaches of Nome. Consequently, Pier 57 had two rooms for cold storage. Here, however, Agen's sign is gone, the Milwaukee sign is not yet up, and the Arlington Dock Company is obviously in charge.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.