The steamer Mame
Monroe Historical Society photo #1072

The steamer Mame was built in 1887 by Capt. McMillan. She was a sternwheeler seventy-five feet long with a very light draft, and in January 1888 she went further up the Skykomish River than any other riverboat had previously reached, going three miles above Sultan. By the late 1870s, river steamers were traveling up the lower Skykomish River as far as Park Place and the site of Pattison's Ferry. In May 1887, the Gleaner became the first steamer to travel some distance up the Skykomish stopping less than two miles below Sultan. With the mining boom of 1891, river traffic to Sultan became a regular feature with daily roundtrips between Snohomish and Sultan on the Monte Cristo and three times a week on the Minnie M. The runs were short-lived ending by August 1892 with the coming of Great Northern Railway.