She spent thirty years in the coastwise shipping trade between Alaska and San Diego, until she was scrapped in Osaka, Japan in 1935.

Senator was built for the Pacific Coast Steamship Company at Union Iron Works in San Francisco.

The U.S. government needed ships quickly to achieve its war aims and was unable to negotiate satisfactory terms of charter with their owners.

In June 1898 Assistant Secretary of War Meiklejohn ordered a number of ships, including Senator, impressed into government service.

The ship was days late to her coaling stop in Honolulu and concern was expressed that she, "may have been lost in the terrible typhoon.

[20] Early departures from San Francisco, at the height of patriotic fervor, were marked by parades, cheering crowds, and steam-whistle salutes from the other ships in the harbor.

On a coaling stop in Honolulu, a fight among the overcrowded troops became a riot, and the ship sailed on with fifty men in irons.

[22] On return trips to San Francisco, Senator stopped for coal at Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe, and Honolulu at various times.

Senator returned to San Francisco with 810 officers and men of the 51st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment in October 1899.

They were greeted by a band playing patriotic tunes, a delegation from San Francisco which granted the soldiers the "freedom of the city", and even the governor of Iowa, Leslie M.

[26] The Army Transport Service paid the Pacific Coast Steamship Company $534,375 for the use of Senator during the war, or a little more than $900 per day.

This simple calculation failed to consider that the charter fees also covered the cost of the crew, maintenance, and the restoration of the ship to its original condition, among other expenses.

When it was discovered that there was gold not just in the creek, but also in the beach sand for miles around Nome, thousands more rushed to West Coast ports so they could sail to the scene in Spring 1900.

[28] In the meantime, the bunkbeds and other troopship furnishings were ripped out and Senator went into the Merchants dry dock in San Francisco for a general overhaul.

[26][29] After this quick trip to the shipyard, she sailed between San Francisco and Seattle as a freighter, carrying coal and general cargo.

Senator's cargo included bar fixtures, buggies, and a complete printing plant to establish Alaska's first newspaper, the Nome Daily News.

[35] Senator's hull was dented, starting a leak, but she finally freed herself and back-tracked to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, making port on June 7, 1900.

The quarantine officer ordered to ship to Egg Island near St. Michael, Alaska, where the passengers were debarked for a two-week stay in tents.

In the weak light of dawn in a dense fog, Senator grounded on a sand bar at Shelter Island in Lynn Canal.

The Treadwell mine in Juneau was producing gold, and Senator carried $50,000 of bullion back to Seattle in March 1901.

[70] In 1902, as in the previous year, Senator was assigned to the Southeast Alaska route after her last trip to Nome[71] and almost immediately had an accident.

[83][84] In the Winter of 1910 - 1911, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company placed the ship back on the Southeast Alaska run, replacing Cottage City, which was overhauled.

[85] In March 1911 Senator was chartered by the Alaska Packers Association to sail to Honolulu to recruit workers to seasonal jobs in its canneries.

This was seen as a "raid" on Hawaii's labor force by the sugar plantations, and the territorial legislature considered a number of laws to prevent the solicitation of Hawaiian workers before the ship arrived.

[86] Senator's visit to Oahu was marked with legal troubles and she sailed back to San Francisco with only 145 of the 1000 hoped for workers aboard.

She was assigned to the Los Angeles - San Francisco - Seattle route, and made several sailings with freight only to meet the demands of a growing economy.

[92] Senator sailed continuously between Seattle and Singapore and Hong Kong through June 1919, when she returned to her familiar Seattle-Nome routing.

[93][94] In December 1919, Senator opened a new route from San Francisco to Corinto, Nicaragua, with stops in Southern California and Mexico.

Floridian crossed in front of Admiral Fiske and the collision opened an 8' by 4' hole in her hull that flooded her engine room and cargo hold.

Admiral Fiske's forepeak water-tight bulkhead was leaking slightly, but the ship made Seattle under her own power.