Waterfront view with two of the Seattle-San Francisco fleet of the Oregon Improvement Co. at their wharf; CITY OF SEATTLE is at the left, other two vessels unidentified.
<ul><li>Subjects (LCTGM): Piers &amp; wharves--Washington (State)--Seattle; Ships--Washington (State)--Seattle; Cities &amp; towns--Washington (State)</li>
<li>Subjects (LCSH): Oregon Improvement Company; City of Seattle (Ship); Seattle (Wash.)</li></ul><hr><p>The other two ships are flying the Maltese Cross flag of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company.
</p><p>Date pretty much has to be earlier than the "circa 1902" given by the University of Washington Libraries. <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_-_Lilly_Bogardus_warehouse_-_1900.jpg" title="File:Seattle - Lilly Bogardus warehouse - 1900.jpg">File:Seattle - Lilly Bogardus warehouse - 1900.jpg</a>, definitely no later than 1900, shows that by that time the "Oregon Improvement Company" name had been removed from the pier.
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2023-01-04: Kris Kinsey of UW Libraries now agrees: "this photo by John Soule is dated between 1899 and 1900 and has the Pacific Coast Co. lettering on the pier, so I think it's safe to date the photo in question between 1898 and 1900, since the Pacific Coast Co. took over in 1897."
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:John_P._Soule" class="extiw" title="w:en:John P. Soule"><span title="American photographer">John P. Soule</span></a>
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://content.lib.washington.edu/curtisweb/index.html">Asahel Curtis Photo Company Photographs</a>