Seattle Pioneer Henry Leiter Yesler (1810-1892) built a wharf in 1854 at the foot of Mill Street (now Yesler Way). A makeshift affair at first that would eventually extend nearly 1,000 feet into Elliott Bay, it was built next to the steam sawmill he built two years prior. This pier was the center of local maritime commerce until it was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1889. Yesler's Wharf was replaced by piers 1 and 2 (later renamed 50 and 51) built by the Northern Pacific Railroad, and later operated by the Alaska Steamship Company. The piers were removed in the 1960s to accommodate the needs of the Washington State Ferry System.

In this image three ships sit docked at Yesler's Wharf, including the SS Pacific (probably first on the left), an 876-ton sidewheel steamer built in 1851 and most notable for its sinking on November 4, 1875 as a result of a collision southwest of Cape Flattery, Washington, which killed 273 people. In the center is the SS Salvador, a Pacific Mail Steamship Company ship built in 1864, and on the right is the bark Harriet Hunt.

Written on side of image: Steamships Salvador and Pacific and bark Harriet Hunt at Yesler's Wharf in 1875.
Typed on verso: The steamer Pacific at Yesler's wharf in 1875. On Nov. 4th, 1875, while this steamer was on the way to San Francisco she was run into by the American ship Orpheus and out of a crew and passenger list of about 250 only two were saved. The collision occurred off Cape Flattery and is the worst in the history of Puget Sound.
SHS category: Docks

Caption information source: "Seattle Central Waterfront, Part 3: Yesler's Mill meets Elliott Bay: Foot of Yesler Way," by Paul Dorpat, HistoryLink.org Essay 2473