Chapter Three pg 2 The
Beginning?
According to an account in the
Xmas Tree Ship, the brothers August and
Herman Schuenemann changed that...
"In summer 1879,
Ahnapee sawmill owner Charles Fellows had trouble with the crew of his scow
schooner, Sea Star, and replaced every man and make August her captain. Fellows’
business was well set up, so this little ship – lengthened and rebuilt in 1880 –
was far better maintained than the Hinsdale. Her main work was carrying timber
for the sawmill, but there are records of her carrying Christmas trees to
Chicago in 1883 and ’84.
The article goes on to say that... "Until
then, the (Schuenemann) brothers had mainly sold trees to retail outlets, but
from 1896 they sold direct from the ships, decking them out with lights and
notices saying “Lowest prices”."
Enter the
Rouse Simmons. The "famed" and ill-fated Schuenemann Christmas Tree Ship.
Enter
Mrs. Schuenemann and her daughters, who were to carry on the Christmas Tree
Ship tradition, for many years after the ill-fated voyage of the Rouse Simmons.
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