One of the strangest and slowest land-and-sea journeys in state history was to end today when the $1.7 million ferryboat Columbian Princess creeps into Lincoln, Lincoln County, on the shores of Roosevelt Lake.
For the past two weeks, the 120-foot long, 42-foot wide ferryboat has inched along Eastern Washington's roads, at 4 to 6 miles an hour traveling only in the early morning.
State highway officials said it was the widest load ever to move on state roads. They estimated the cost at $1,000 a mile for the 108-mile overland trip from Pasco.
At times the move took muscle — 1,750 horsepower to get the 220-ton vessel up a steep slope between Ritzville and Ralston.
At other times, it took finesse — to squeeze by a fraction of an inch under an Interstate 90 overpass in Adams County.
Built by Fisherman's Boat Shop in Everett, the Columbian Princess began its journey May 30, through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, down the coast and up the Columbia River, where it passed through the locks of four dams.
When the vessel arrives in Lincoln, workment will reassemble its various parts, a job that will take one to two weeks.
Then the Columbian Princess will go into service as a free ferryboat between Inchelium and Gifford, operated by the Colville Confederated Tribes.
It will replace an obsolete tug-and-barge.
By The Seattle Times
No comments:
Post a Comment