WT Preston
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The W.T. Preston is a specialized paddle steamer that operated as a river dredger, otherwise known as a "snagboat", removing log jams and natural debris that prevented river navigation on several Puget Sound-area rivers, including the Skagit, Stillaguamish, and Snohomish rivers. Dead trees that reached Puget Sound often became half-submerged "deadheads" that could pierce hulls when struck by a wooden vessel. The federal government began building snagboats to remove the obstructions. Build from parts off an older boat, the W.T. Preston was named in honor of the only civilian engineer to work for the Army Corps of Engineers at the time of her construction in 1929.
The 163-foot, wooden-hulled vessel pulled snags, performed light dredging, and otherwise worked the waters of Puget Sound until 1939. At this point, the Army Corps of Engineers built a new superstructure atop a welded steel hull and transferred the sternwheel, main engines, smokestack, foredeck equipment, and other items onto the second W.T. Preston. This boat served Puget Sound for more than forty years before the Army Corps retired her in 1981. The boat is now permanently dry berthed on the waterfront at Anacortes, Washington. The vessel is a National Historic Landmark and a designated city historic landmark.
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