The vessel served as an important transportation link in the area when roads and railways were poor or non-existent, and there were no bridges across the lake.

Elfin was built at Pontiac, on the north side of Sand Point, on Lake Washington in 1891.

Other steamers on the lake, Kirkland, and Mary Kraft brought spectators to the launching.

[2] Elfin made six round trips per day, starting at 7:10 a.m from Yarrow Bay (then called Northup’s Landing), to Kirkland then Houghton, and then west across the lake to the foot of Seattle’s Madison street.

[1] Early in the morning on December 2, 1900, while moored at a dock, Elfin was destroyed in a fire.