John Anderson, who later became closely linked with steamboat operations on Lake Washington, discovered Inland Flyer engineless and still under construction at the shipyard of Joseph Supple in Portland, and recommended her purchase to Joshua Green.

[3] Anderson bought the hull, and sold it to Green and his associates who were doing business as La Conner Trading and Transportation Company.

Anderson then installed the engines and the upper works himself in Portland, and brought the ship himself down the Columbia River and around the Olympic peninsula.

The decision was reached after officials of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, including its president, Charles Peabody, had taken a test trip on the Northern Commercial Company's sidewheeler Sadie, which was intended for use in Alaska and had been fitted with oil fuel tanks and burned oil rather than wood or coal.

[3] On May 23, 1903, Inland Flyer was among the steamboats that greeted President Theodore Roosevelt when he toured the Seattle and the Bremerton naval yard.

Disposing of three vessels, including Inland Flyer, Athlon, and the sternwheeler Port Orchard, the Navy Yard route ran six sailings a day from Seattle's Pier 2 to and from Bremerton.

Considered a speedy vessel, Inland Flyer, together with Garland brought the best steamboat service ever effected on Hood Canal.

[5] Greene, who was by then a millionaire, and owned more steamboats than any other person on Puget Sound, was criticized in at least one newspaper for his supposed ruthlessness in dealing with Warren L. Gazzam, the chief of the Kitsap County Transportation Co.[3] In 1908, the Port Blakely Mill Company decided to run its steamer Monticello 2 in competition with the Navy Yard Route's steamers, including Inland Flyer.

[2] On July 9, 1909, at the wreck of the Yosemite, Inland Flyer stood by with other vessels to assist, helping make sure there was no loss of life when the big excursion sidewheeler went on the rocks near Bremerton.