Alaska Marine Highway System

In 1989 the Alaska Marine Highway System, known to locals in Bellingham as the Alaska Ferry, made Bellingham the southern-most port for the ferry.  That was a surprise and a triumph to many Bellingham residents who remembered that the city had lost out on the ferry two decades previously. It went like this: In the mid-1960's Alaska was looking to expand the ferry system to Washington State -- the southern terminus. As those of us living in Washington State know, Alaska is inhabited by a great number of people who emigrated from our fair state at one time or another. Bellingham made a bid for the ferry in 1969 but was quashed by the much larger port city of Seattle. In 1980, when I took the Alaska Ferry from Seattle to Juneau, I had no clue that 9 years later the southern terminus of the ferry would move to Bellingham. I remember those years, just prior to the ferry moving to Bellingham. Aficionados in local government, the state legislature and local business did anything and everything they could to appeal to and woo legislators and ferry administrators in Alaska. And they won out in the long run and now, in the year 2007, the ferry has been in Bellingham for almost as long as it was located in Seattle. I remember, before the move, a number of Alaska residents saying the state would never move the ferry from Seattle, because Alaskans were headed for Seattle and beyond and did not want to be waylaid by stopping in Bellingham. As it was, the cooler heads decided that, economically, Bellingham made sense. With I-5 access so handy, people debarking can be in Seattle in 1 1/2 hours and those not going to Seattle may be able to miss the traffic jams completely by skipping Seattle. As it is now, with the Ferry terminus being on Harris Street in Fairhaven, bus and train transportation is nearby as well. I do not know that the economic impact to Bellingham has ever been quite as good as was forecast in those early days. They have found that many of the people arriving on the trip from Alaska do in fact leave town immediately, without much of a pit stop. However, a number of the Fairhaven hotels, restaurants, stores and the big bookstore do reap positive benefits from the Alaska Marine Highway System. Those boarding the ferry, for the trip to Alaska, often spend the night before in town.  To view ferry information, schedules and routes, please visit:

http://www.alaskaferry.com/Routes.shtml

Getting ready to board on a Friday

The Bellingham Terminal

The ferry, docked in Fairhaven, on a Friday morning

Thanks for reading,

Steven L. Smith

www.kingofthehouse.com