Born in Georgia, cartographer Clifford Gordon Quillian (1880-1948) first came to Seattle in 1907. He married Cora Elizabeth Armstrong (1888-1957) in 1912, served with the U.S. Navy in the Philippines, WWI, and WWII, was the commander of various ships in the United States Coast Guard and Geodesic Survey, and was a chartered life-insurance underwriter.
In this image, a group of passengers on board the USC&GS Carlile P. Patterson are photographed by Captain Quillian, who had been assigned command of the wooden survey ship the previous year. When the image was taken the ship was making its way through the recently opened Lake Washington Ship Canal east towards Lake Union. The bridge visible behind the boat appears to be Salmon Bay Bridge, built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway to cross Salmon Bay, connecting the Magnolia and Interbay neighborhoods to Ballard.
Handwritten on negative: On board the Patterson - trip through canal to Lake Union, Oct. 16-1917
Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, February 18, 1916, p. 21; December 3, 1948, p. 50 Caption information source: "Lake Washington Ship Canal (Seattle)," by David B. Williams, HistoryLink.org Essay 1444
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, 1980.7038.302, photo by Clifford Gordon Quillian
