SS City of Topeka

SS City of Topeka was an iron-hulled passenger/cargo steamship built in 1884 by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.

[1] She was purchased by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company in 1887 and used to transport cargo and passengers from Seattle, WA to Alaska, a route which was expanded to accommodate the Klondike Gold Rush.

[2] On September 11, 1906, she began to take on water while docked in Seattle and sank.

She was raised, pumped, refloated, and after a brief interruption she resumed service.

[4] In 1921 she was purchased by the Los Angeles Steamship Company who extensively renovated her at the Hanlon Dry Dock and Shipbuilding facility and renamed her the SS Waimea.